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58
Mr. Dodson stated that in his view the "hospital question was
underlying" the whole of the subjects brought under his notice, and
he pressed for definite information on the provision of
HOSPITAL ACCOMMODATION
for the infectious sick. At the request of the deputation I gave
that information, to the effect inter alia that infectious disease hospitals
should not be unduly multiplied in large centres of population;
that convalescent and mild cases of small-pox might be safely removed
into the country; that if such cases were so removed the
existing hospitals would suffice for cases too ill to be removed to
any considerable distance, and which therefore must of necessity
be provided for in town; and that the difficulty in which the
Managers found themselves placed would vanish if provision could
be made for the reception of convalescent and mild cases outside
London.
These views were approved by the deputation, and it is satisfactory
to know that they commended themselves to the judgement of
the President, and led to results which, as they will have an
important bearing in the future on this question of hospital
accommodation, are deserving of record.
I may premise by stating that I had long felt that the solution of
the hospital difficulty, so far as the treatment of small-pox
is concerned, was to be sought in the removal out of London
of as many cases as could be safely removed. On the 1st March
I had brought this subject under the notice of the Asylum Board,
in the form of a letter, suggesting that "light cases and convalescents"
should be removed out of London, because if this were done
"the existing hospital accommodation would probably suffice for the
requirements of the Metropolis." "We know," I continued, "what
a large number of cases there are whose isolation is necessary only
for the public good, and that many other cases more severe at first,
soon arrive at a stage when they might safely be removed to a distance
from Town if Sanatoria existed for their reception. The
hospitals get choked with mild cases and by the necessary detention
of convalescents; whereas, I think, it might be better to restrict
the use of them for ' bad cases,' and for other cases so long only as