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13
I am quite aware of, indeed I have previously dwelt upon, the
fact that several difficulties present themselves to a Council who have
the administration of a district whose rateable value is small in proportion
to its population, and whose population increases much faster
than the rateable value, in making provision for the separate isolation
and treatment, according to modern requirements, of more than one
class of infectious disease; and I have expressed the opinion, to which
I still adhere, that this duty would be more economically and efficiently
discharged by an administrative body dealing with a much larger area,
but it seems to be the general feeling, as it certainly is the tendency
of the powers conferred by the legislature in relation to this matter, that
each district should provide for, or in any case pay for, its own needs.
The Council has at different times gone in some detail into various
combination schemes and arrangements for sending cases to hospitals
provided and administered by other local authorities, and it has seemed
to be fairly clear that apart from the disadvantage of neither the
Council nor its officers having any voice in the management of the
institution, the cost would in the end be little, if at all, less than that
of separate provision, and I think that the majority of the Council
were of that opinion.
I cannot but think that the cost and difficulty of providing hospital
accommodation in a permanent and efficient manner will only increase
with delay. And I feel sure that the "Micawber-like" policy of
"waiting for something to turn up," will not commend itself to the
Council.
The same arrangement for the removal of Scarlet Fever cases to
the Enfield Isolation Hospital, when there has happened to be room
for them, has prevailed as in former years, and has been of much
benefit, but it is not at all commensurate with the needs of the
district, and under no circumstances can a case be promptly removed,
the consent of the Enfield officials having in each specific instance to
be obtained, which, as I have before remarked, often causes considerable
delay.
Our applications this year were, however, generally successful, and
44 cases were taken to the hospital. In several important instances,
however, no bed was available.
As regards Enteric Fever and Diphtheria,, however, there remains
absolutely no accommodation at the disposal of the Council's officers,
and no assistance can be officially given in the isolation and treatment
of these diseases, other than the use of the ambulance if a hospital bed
can be obtained for the case from private sources, and this is a state of
helplessness in an important matter which I respectfully submit ought
to be remedied with the least possible delay.
Especially is hardship felt in cases of Diphtheria, for which it is