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basis when public and voluntary hospitals will co-operate with one
another and not act independently in serving the needs of the
community.
An entire lack of co-operation is strikingly evident between the
King Edward Memorial Hospital and the Hanwell Cottage Hospital,
which consists of 12 beds with the three beds for children already
mentioned. It is a striking anomaly to have a hospital of the
dimensions of a cottage hospital being run in the same district alongside
a large voluntary general hospital. There is division of effort
not only in the management but in the collection of funds. One
hospital is sure to interfere with the other in the collection of funds.
Were the resources combined there could be economies in management.
Besides, the undivided interest of the people in one hospital
or combination of hospitals would result in a better response in
the whole of the Borough to an appeal for support. It can be
quite readily understood that those who have carefully nurtured
the smaller institution and tended it during its early years will be
loth to part with control, but there is the broader aspect to consider,
the hospital provision for the whole district. A combination of
resources need not mean the discontinuance of the Hanwell Hospital
or the dispensing with the capable men who have managed its
affairs or with the staff. The valuable experience and services of all
could be of value to a larger governing body for both hospitals.
One has in mind the possibility of utilising the Hanwell
Hospital entirely as a Children's Hospital, where the small wards
are eminently suitable for treating children, where isolation
can be carried out when necessary and where open-air treatment
could be conducted in a way that is not practicable at the King
Edward Hospital and the utilisation of the children's ward at the
King Edward Hospital for adults, for whom beds are so much
needed. Surely some means can be found of bringing these two
hospitals together for the benefit of the sick of the whole of the
Borough.
Ambulance Facilities.
(1) For Cases of Infectious Disease.—The Chiswick and Ealing
Hospitals Committee provide a motor ambulance in which cases of
infectious disease are removed from the Borough of Ealing and
the Urban District of Brentford and Chiswick to the Isolation
Hospital.