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56
One case of mixed infection was admitted to hospital, and
one instance of cross-infection occurred during the year.
The ward buildings and other appurtenances comprising the
isolation accommodation of the district are now inadequate and
inefficient, lacking more or less all of the essential requirements
of the modern Infectious Hospital, while the steady development
of the district would appear to render necessary the formulation
of some definite scheme providing sufficient and efficient accommodation
for the segregation and treatment of infectious disease
Including a ward reserved for maternity work, the actual number
of beds available, based on modern standards, for infectious
disease is only 30.
While several different schemes present themselves for
consideration, it is necessary to remember that at least one bed
per 1,000 is required as a hospital district basis for infectious
disease, and that this proportion should be provided according
to whatever population area would necessarily be served.
The present hospital site in Upney Lane, if considered
sufficiently central and otherwise suitable lor further building
operations, could be extended, or, alternatively, a more suitable
site selected elsewhere. A "squaring off" of the present site,
however, by an extension of certain boundaries would be a
sine qut non of any scheme affccting that particular site.
The present hospital buildings are unsuitable and unsatisfactory
for the treatment of the infectious sick and could be
satisfactorily reconstructed, re-planned and extended only at
considerable expense, while entirely new buildings to be erect
on the same or some other site on modern and up-to-date lines—
in my opinion, the only satisfactory solution to the problem
—would mean still greater expenditure.
A further alternative presents itself, which deserves some.
consideration in so far as capital commitments could be to some
extent avoided and upkeep charges lessened, by the formation
of a Joint Hospital Board with one or more neighbouring districts,
the policy of the large centrally-placed hospital commending itself
or. other lines than those merely of finance.
The present hospital, however, could be rendered suitable
for treating advanced tuberculosis only, from Barking and by