View report page

8
PROFESSIONAL NURSING IN THE HOME.
General.—There are two district nurses employed by the
Acton Hospital, who visit the homes of both the poor and those
who are able to pay.
There are also nursing associations which provide nurses
for different classes of cases.
Midwives. —The Supervising Authority under the Midwives
Act is the Middlesex County Council and from the County Council
I understand that there are 23 certified midwives practising in the
Borough.
SWIMMING BATHS.
The most important development has been the installation
of a filtration plant, and the following description of the plant has
kindly been supplied by the Borough Engineer.
The water is drawn from the deep end of each bath through
cast iron suction pipes, passes through a grid strainer upon which
the larger solids such as buttons, pieces of costumes, etc., are retained
and then enters the pre-aeration chamber where it is subjected
to an intensive oxidation on the self induction principle befor
entering the pump suction. Centrifugal pumps in duplicate,
each driven by a steam engine of 13 B.H.P. are installed to pump
the water to the filters. On its way it passes through a heater
which preserves any temperature loss which would otherwise be
sustained in circulation.
Immediately before being distributed over the filters, the
water is dosed with alumina which coagulates the impurities in
solution and Soda Ash as necessary to preserve the required degree
of alkalinity. The filters are four in number, vertical pressure
type, constructed of ¼-inch and 7/16-ins. mild steel plate, 8-ft. 9-ins.
diameter and filled to a dept of 3-ft. 6-ins. with Leighton Buzzard
sand on a 6-in. bed of large pebbles. The water passes downward
through the sand leaving the impurities behind in the form of a
gelatinous film. Before re-entering the pools at the shallow end
the water is finally aerated, then sterilised by the injection of
chlorine gas in solution in such proportion that about .4 and 1
parts per million can be determined by the orthotolidin test at the
shallow and deep ends respectively. The total capacity of the pools
is approximately 166,000 gallons, the whole passing through the
complete process of filtration once every four hours, giving a rate
of filtration equal to 173 gallons per square foot of filtering media
per hour.