View report page

34
At the date of my eighth four-weekly report (August
l0th), the cases in hospitals had further risen to 3088, an
increase of 600 since July 16th: the admissions in the four
weeks, (1486), showed an increase of 247 only, the notifications
(2690) an increase of 286. To this date the Managers had
succeeded in keeping pace with the demands for accommodation,
and it was hoped that, as they had just received the
sanction of the Local Government Board to the acquisition of
the site whereon the North-Eastern Hospital now stands, this
addition to their resources would enable them, as on all previous
occasions, to cope with the emergency, the urgency of
which could not be expected to decline for some weeks, the
usual maximum prevalence of scarlet fever, as indicated by
the admissions to hospital, not having yet arrived. During a
period of twenty years the maximum of admissions had been
attained three times in September, four times in November,
and nine times in October.
In my ninth report—for the four weeks ended on the 10th
September—I had to record an addition of 251 to the number
of casas in hospitals on the 13th August, and an increase of
123 in the four-weekly number of admissions, and of 89 in the
number of notifications. Cause for anxiety was increasing, for
the mortality had been greater than in any previous four-
weekly period. The deaths (133) showed an increase of 35;
they were 34 above the corrected average, and the highest
four-weekly number in 1892. The hospitals were now full:
the daily discharges and deaths did not equal the daily
number of applications for admission. To this date, however,
all of our cases had been promptly removed—with a single
exception, when a delay of twenty-four hours occurred. It
was clear, nevertheless, that a block would ensue; not to be
relieved wholly, until completion of the new Hospital, at which
the works were being pressed forward with extraordinary
energy.
In the four weeks ended October 8th, a smaller number
of cases was admitted; 1500, compared with 1609 in the