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45
The removal is undertaken subject to the following conditions:—
(1) The patient must have in her possession an ambulance card issued by
the Council, a supply of which will be forwarded to each hospital or
institution.
(2) The patient must be accompanied by a doctor, nurse or female friend.
(3) The patient must be wrapped in blankets ready for her removal when
the ambulance arrives.
This extension of facilities which hitherto had only been available between
the hours of 11 p.m. and 8 a.m., does not affect the procedure to be adopted in
urgent cases, i.e., cases attended by a doctor or midwife in which hospital treatment
may become a matter of urgency. In these cases an ambulance can always
be obtained without charge on application by telephone, but the patient must be
accompanied to hospital by a doctor or midwife.
In consequence of this resolution the agreement with the London County
Council by which the Council hired ambulances for this purpose during the day
from the London County Council automatically terminated. In the first quarter
of the year, however, the day ambulance was supplied in three cases.
Children's Beds.—Twelve beds have been reserved by the Council in the
Woolwich War Memorial Hospital for the treatment of children under 5 years of
age suffering from such conditions as are usually admitted to general or children's
Hospitals. Including those remaining in hospital at the beginning of the year,
the number of children who received treatment during the year was 173. Of these
158 were discharged cured or very much improved in health, 6 were discharged
as improved, and 3 died. No children were transferred to other hospitals, 2 others
were discharged showing no improvement, and the number remaining in hospital
at the end of the year was 4. The surgical conditions for which these children
were admitted included:- enlarged tonsils and adenoids, phimosis, hernia, injury,
pyloric stenosis, cleft palate, dermoid cyst, cervical adenitis, etc., and those
admitted for medical treatment included children suffering from prematurity,
malnutrition, pneumonia, bronchitis, diarrhoea, vomiting, enuresis and pemphigus,
etc. Some children were admitted for observation.
Institutional Midwifery.—(1) British Hospital for Mothers and Babies.—
I There are 42 beds in this hospital, and I am informed by Miss Gregory, the Secretary
of the Hospital, that 794 babies were born during the year. At the ante-natal
clinics in connection with this hospital, 8,669 attendances were made, and at the
infant clinics, 2,773 attendances. In addition there were 180 extern cases. The
number of mothers admitted under the Council's scheme was 145, the nett cost
to the Council being £943 16s. 0d.