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49
the ambulance staff at the Western Station, Seagrave Road,
Fulham. Between 8 a.m. and 8 p.m., on week-days, cases for
removal are reported at the Managers' Central Offices, Norfolk
House, Norfolk Street, Strand, W.C.,* these being in telephonic
communication with the Station. During the night, and on
Sundays, application for a patient's removal is forwarded direct to
the Ambulance Station.
Wharves.—The Managers have acquired or constructed
three Wharves for the embarkation of patients, &c., named
respectively North, South, and West. The North Wharf
is at Blackwall, the South Wharf at Rotherhithe. The West
Wharf, at Fulham, near Wandsworth Bridge, at which, in the
event of an epidemic of small-pox, Kensington patients will
embark for the voyage to the hospital ships at Long Reach,
and the Brick Hut Hospital at Darenth, but which is also
intended for the accommodation of the West District generally,
has long since been completed. But hitherto it has not been
necessary to bring it into use. Owing to the great distance
between the Western Hospital and the districts allocated to it,
and the South Wharf, at Rotherhithe, to which small-pox patients
were formerly sent for embarkation, the number of miles travelled
by the ambulances was excessive.
River Service.—The Managers possess, in their three
Ambulance steamers, Red Cross, Maltese Cross, and Albert
Victor, together with the steam pinnace Swalloiv, a fleet equal
to all probable demands.
Having said so much by way of general introduction, I
proceed to deal with the
ANNUAL REPORT OF THE AMBULANCE
COMMITTEE.
Arrangements in connection with the transit of the sick,
between home and hospital, and back again, are under the control
of a Committee of the Asylums Board, whose Annual Report,
* Telegraphic Address, " Asylums Board, London Telephone Number, 2587.