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55
The numbers of medical officers released from H.M. Forces must, in due course,
diminish, but those enrolled for refresher courses under the National Health Insurance
scheme, together with general practitioners willing to pay their own fees,
will no doubt sustain the demand for some time to come.
Resident and non-resident courses of instruction in the diagnosis and treatment
of fevers have been continued and extended as circumstances permitted.
No fewer than 641 undergraduate students were enrolled for the fever courses
at 6 hospitals, and of these 126 were women. In addition, 3 months' post-graduate
courses of instruction in fever hospital administration suitable for candidates for the
Diploma in Public Health were conducted at North-Eastern Hospital.
At the request of the Fellowship of Post-Graduate Medicine, revision courses
have also been held at St. Stephen's Hospital in rheumatism and general medicine
suitable for M.R.C.P. candidates.
Arrangements have been in operation for many years for medical students from
the London Hospital to visit Whitechapel Clinic, and these have been continued.
Facilities have also been provided at that Clinic and at Endell Street Clinic for medical
officers to gain some experience of the work on veneral diseases, and for others to
undergo courses to enable them to fulfil the qualifications prescribed for venereal
disease officers.
Visits, etc.,
by students
and others
Medical officers of various nationalities, mostly from the Dominons, the Crown
Colonies and India, worked in a voluntary capacity at various hospitals in order to
widen their professional experience and to become acquainted with modern methods
of treatment.
Visits were paid to a number of hospitals by parties of students from the London
School of Economics, the Battersea Polytechnic, and other educational establishments
; lectures and demonstrations were given to many of them by members of the
hospital's medical and nursing staff.
Facilities were afforded to cookery students, sponsored by the Ministry of
Labour and National Service, to enable them to obtain experience of large-scale
institutional cookery by working for a few weeks in hospital kitchens.
Legacies and
donations
During the year five legacies were received for the benefit of four of the Council's
hospitals, viz., Bethnal Green (£85), Fulham (£126 and £10), Lambeth (£10) and St.
Mary Abbots, Kensington (£500). These sums have been, or will be, used for the
benefit of the patients and staff of the hospitals concerned.
The total balance at 30th September, 1946, of the forty-seven bequests, etc.,
held by the Council in respect of its general and special hospitals was nearly £19,000.
Many small gifts of money were received at hospitals during 1946 in recognition of
"kindly treatment" given to patients and the total of these local funds at the end
of last year was approximately £5,500. Donations were also received for Samaritan
purposes, i.e., to assist necessitous patients on discharge from hospital, and the total
balance in the central and local Samaritan funds on 1st November, 1946, was a little
over £2,000.
These donations, together with the income from the capital investment of
legacies, were expended on the authority of the hospital committees in the manner
indicated by the donors. During the war, there was little call for disbursement from
these funds, partly because of the limited number of objects on which the money
could be spent and partly because of the Government's desire that all expenditure
should be minimised. There was a tendency last year for expenditure under this
heading to increase and for many extra comforts to be provided for patients and staff
alike.
Canteen for
out-patients
At sixteen hospitals, mostly long-stay, canteens are in operation at which cups of
tea, cakes, toilet requisites, etc., are sold to staff and patients. The profits from these
canteens are devoted to providing additional amenities for patients and staff The
balance in hand in respect of these canteens stood on 30th September, 1946, at
£11,966.