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Arrangements are made for one or two attendants on each ambulance as
occasion requires, and in other than ordinary cases, where a medical attendant
so advises, nurses from the Hospital may be employed. Needless to say, it is the
routine practice for a nurse or nurses to be employed on the infectious diseases
ambulance.
There are reciprocal agreements with adjoining Local Authorities, and the
whole ambulance service has attained considerable efficiency.
(c) Hospitals (Public and Voluntary).—There are no voluntary hospitals in
Barking.
There are two public hospitals in Barking—the Barking Hospital and Upney
Hospital.
The Barking Hospital is reserved for the treatment of cases of infection and
this term is generously interpreted.
The Barking Hospital has 108 beds, of which 36 are in cubicle blocks and
2 are separate side wards.
The Barking Hospital was first opened in 1933. There is now a Resident
Medical Officer, who also does a certain amount of clinical work in your out-patient
departments at your various clinics. .
The Upney Maternity Pavilion has 24 beds of which 8 are cubicles. One of
these cubicles is situated at the distant end of the reception wing and can be and is
completely isolated. The Admission Wing has been kept away from the rest of
the pavilion, and we can say that so far as is practicable every care is taken to
see that people admitted to the nursing wards are not suffering from coughs,
colds, influenza, etc., which they are likely to communicate to the other patients.
Including the sister who is in charge of the Pavilion, there are three sisters.
The number of midwives varies from time to time but on the average there are
three on the staff. There art; also probationers, but the professional nursing work
is carried out entirely by sisters and midwives, all of whom, of course, are qualified.
At this Hospital too there is a Resident Medical Officer, under whose supervision
gas can be administered in suitable cases.
It is fortunate you have this Hospital, so wonderfully planned, so efficiently
equipped and so adequately staffed. It will form a convenient nucleus in the
future for midwifery in Barking. This is particularly important in view of recent
legislation which is coming into operation in about the middle of 1937.