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49
The accommodation is made up as follows :—
A. Basement.
1. Kitchen. 4. Servant's sitting room.
2. Scullery. 5. Attendant's bedroom.
3. Housemaid's pantry. 6. Partitioned off Dispensary
B. Ground Floor.
1. Waiting room. 3. Matron's room.
2. Committee room. 4. Nurses dining room.
C. First Floor.
5 bedrooms, linen room and 2 bath rooms.
D. Second Floor.
On this floor are 7 rooms, 6 of which are used as bedrooms, and
the seventh is a small room used as a store room. Of the 6
used as bed-rooms, all have sloping roofs, and 5 of them have a
maximum height of only 6 ft. 6 ins., and the roofs slope down to a
height of less than 3 ft. It will at once be appreciated that these
do not conform to the requirements of a healthy bedroom. The
sixth bedrcom also has a sloping roof with a height varying from
5 ft. 6 in. to 8 ft.
If the Hospital be extended, the present administrative Block
will be inadequate, and the present building is very difficult, if not
impossible of extension. The Committee will probably have to
decide between (a) taking down the present building and erecting a
new Administrative Block (b) erecting a separate building for the
accommodation of the increased staff.
The former alternative is worthy of the serious consideration of
the Committee, as being ultimately the more economical and
efficient course to take. The present administrative block is not a
suitable one for the purpose. It is an old dwelling house, the repair
and maintenance of which will mean a considerable and an increasing
annual outlay. The number of bedrooms is too small, and in size
some of them are too large. At the present time, 3 of the nurses
sleep in one bedroom.
The kitchen, for working purposes, is an underground one, and
this, of course, necessitates additional labour. Almost every time
the telephone rings, one of the domestic staff has to run up a flight
of stairs.