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1925
9
AMBULANCE FACILITIES.
(а) For Infectious Cases.— The Council has a Motor Ambulance
in which all cases of infectious disease are removed to hospital.
The ambulance is housed in a garage at the Fever Hospital.
(b) For Non-Infectious and Accident Cases.—Last year the
Council obtained its own ambulance for the removal of accident
and non-infectious cases. Previously there was an arrangement
for the use of the Chiswick Council Ambulance, and subsequently
for the use of the Ealing Council Ambulance to remove cases of
street accidents to hospital. The frequency of street accidents,
especially in the main streets, compelled these Councils to terminate
their agreements, and the Council provided its own ambulance.
The Ambulance is housed in a garage at the Fire Station, and is
available at all hours. Between March 1st and December 31st,
the Ambulance was used on 301 occasions—140 cases of street
accidents were removed, and the ambulance was hired on 161
occasions for the removal of cases of illness to or from hospitals,
nursing homes, etc.
HOUSING.
Owing to the changing character of the population of the
district the housing problem has become a more difficult and complex
one. In former years, with the exception of the Laundry trade,
there was no industry in the district which employed any considerable
number of people. Like most extra Metropolitan areas,
Acton was a dormitory of London. In the large majority of districts
around London, the net movement in the day is outward.
Acton is a notable exception to most of the districts in Greater
London. It is the only area with a population of over 50,000
inhabitants in the Home counties outside the Metropolitan area
where more people come in daily to work than go ouc. At the
Census, 13,346 residents left the district daily to follow their usual
occupations, and 14,575 came in for the same purpose.
Owing to the development of the northern part of the town
for factory purposes, this phenomenon has become more marked
since the Census. These figures alone tend to show that the Council's
scheme would not solve the housing problem as it exists
in Acton, and emphasise the necessity of a larger and more comprehensive
scheme, which would include not only Acton, but also
the other neighbouring authorities. There is no doubt as to the
shortage of houses, and the Health Department constantly comes
across cases of overcrowding, but in many instances these cases
result from the emigration of people into the district to follow
their employment.