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Motor Ambulance. In January Messrs. Tillings increased the hire of
a horse from £40 to £50. It was suggested that a horse should be bought, but
in February the Public Health Committee recommended that infectious disease
cases should be transported by the Council to our hospital in a motor vehicle.
In March, Councillors Barrass, Sanders and Elms were appointed as a subcommittee
to draw up a specification prior to advertisement for tenders. In
June the tender of Messrs. E. and C. Ardley, at £145, was accepted for converting
the old horse ambulance into a motor vehicle; the engine is a late
pattern Deasy with enclosed valves for silent running and two spare wheels.
In September a temporary shed, costing £128, was arranged for it on the site
of the proposed cleansing station in the Town Hall yard. The doors of the
shed cost an additional £40. The Engineer has so constructed it as to be
easily adapted for its permanent use as a cleansing station. The motorconverted
ambulance was delivered on September 18th. The Chief Inspector
and J. Madle have licences as drivers.
SMALL-POX HOSPITAL ACCOMMODATION.
Since January 31st, 1907, the Middlesex Districts Joint Small-pox
Hospital has been in existence at South Mimms. We must rejoice that
although precepts have been made from time to time on the Edmonton
treasury, no patients from the district have been sent there yet with smallpox.
The money (£237 for 1918-19—it was £462 the year before) is a
premium for an advantageous insurance.
Dr. Ta'Bois, the resident medical superintendent, informs me that there
are 70 beds in the permanent buildings, and 143 more can be put in the
buildings of wood and corrugated iron.
The number of tuberculosis cases in the institution on December 28th,
1918, was 147, 13 of whom were resident in Edmonton Urban District. Beds
at Uxbridge and Picketts Lock, Edmonton, are available for sporadic cases
of smallpox. If there should appear a prospect of a larger number, the
tuberculous patients at Clare Hall would be cleared out at once.
During 1918, 4 cases (3 from Enfield and I from Hanwell) were admitted
to Uxbridge, but found to be only suffering from chicken-pox.
Eighteen urban districts are now shareholders in the Joint Hospital.
DISINFECTION.
Our methods of house disinfection are stated in my report for 1914.
Disinfectants continue to be supplied without charge to callers, mostly
children, on the same lavish scale as heretofore. The saving of a few pounds
in printing this report, by condensation and omission of interesting facts, does
not compensate for the waste of several hundred pounds in mal-odorous compounds.