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51
They feel that the attention of the County Council should be
directed towards making available for the use of the inhabitants of the
County existing and future accommodation provided or to be provided
by urban sanitary authorities which have already proved their capacity
adequately to administer the public health powers conferred upon them by
Parliament. To divest those authorities of their functions in relation to
the treatment of infectious disease-, and transfer such functions to Joint
Boards would not be in the best interests of local government. The
result would be to create an unnecessary multiplicity of ' ad hoc ' bodies
and to produce an undesirable increase in financial burdens. Such a
procedure would have the added disadvantage of taking away from
those authorities most familiar with such matters the administration of
important public health powers and bestowing such powers upon new
authorities with no direct electoral representation and financial responsibility.
The Hendon Isolation Hospital, which is a most up to date institution
and will shortly provide 120 beds, is adequate to meet the needs
of the Borough and can readily be extended to cover the requirements of
a considerably larger area. Sufficient land has been acquired and the layout
so arranged that the Hospital is capable of extension to accommodate
300 to 350 beds. By the adoption of double stories, this number
could readily be increased to 450.
One of the methods of co-operation set out in Memorandum
L.G.A. 40 is by contract for the reception of patients from other areas.
In the opinion of the Hendon Council this is the method which should
be adopted and they have already indicated to the County Council their
willingness to enter into an agreement on terms to be arranged with the
Urban Districts of Wealdstone and Harrow and the Rural District of
Hendon for the reception of cases of infectious disease and in case of
need, so far as is practicable and subject to mutual arrangements,
patients from other districts in Middlesex.
This course would avoid the creation of an entirely new authority
and leave the control of the hospital in the hands of those responsible
for its erection and successful development up to the present time, while
rendering its accommodation available for those areas where sufficient
provision has not yet been made. The advantages from the financial
point of view are apparent.
It is fully realised that the ultimate population of the proposed
Hospital Area No. 2 may render necessary at a later date the erection
of a further Isolation Hospital. In view of the pending amalgamation
of the Urban Districts of Harrow and Wealdstone and the Rural