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" 3. That the admission into hospitals for the purpose of isolation of
persons suffering from infectious diseases, and being without proper
lodging or accommodation, is eminently desirable in the interests of
the public and should be encouraged : that payment for the assistance
given in hospital to such persons, removed thereto for isolation by the
Nuisance or Poor Law Authority, should not be enforced; that the
giving of such assistance should not entail on the recipients the loss
of any social or political status; and that the cost of hospital treatment
of such infective sick persons should be made a charge on the
Metropolitan Common Poor Fund."
The foregoing resolutions, I may mention, had been submitted
to the President of the Local Government Board (April 23rd,
1881) by a deputation, at which, in addition to the Sanitary
Authorities of the Metropolis, the British Medical Association,
the Society of Medical Officers of Health, the Social Science
Association (Public Health Section), and the National Health
Society, were represented.
To a certain extent the Deputation, so for as immediate results
were concerned, seemed to have had little effect, for as respects
the recommendations specifically dealt with in the resolutions,
the President merely promised his " consideration." But Mr.
Dodson was so deeply impressed at the time with the gravity of
the " Hospital question " which, as he said, underlay the entire
subject of " Compulsory Notification" and its corollary " Compulsory
Removal," that he did not entertain any other, and
having asked for definite information thereupon, I, having been
invited by the deputation to supply such information, availed
myself of the opportunity to state the views I had sometime
previously submitted to the Asylums Board, on the necessity
for making provision for the reception and treatment of mild
and convalescent cases of small-pox in hospitals outside London,
and gave it as my opinion that " the difficulty in which the
managers found themselves placed " would vanish if such provision
were made, the difficulty being that the hospitals were
full, and hundreds of cases, consequently, were being treated at
home, to the great danger of the public health. What follows
is matter of history. The Local Government Board