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32
ISOLATION HOSPITALS.
ADEQUACY OF ACCOMMODATION.
Owing to the low incidence of scarlet fever, the Honeypot
Lane Hospital was closed for the earlier part of the year. When
raiding started it was considered unwise to use the so-called
diphtheria pavilion which had since the beginning of the war been
used for housing scarlet fever patients because its relatively unprotected
condition made it advisable that it should be possible
to evacuate it completely and if necessary hurriedly, a step which
could with less risk be taken in the case of scarlet fever patients
than in the case of those suffering from diphtheria, amongst whom
there are usually some which it is undesirable to move. This
reduction of available accommodation, together with the rise in
the incidence of infection, soon made it necessary to admit patients
to the Stanmore Hospital. Accommodation for scarlet fever
patients proved sufficient but a slight increase in incidence of
diphtheria cases in November necessitated some patients having to
be found accommodation in the hospitals of other authorities.
In order to restore to use the accommodation afforded at
the diphtheria ward it was decided to provide both lateral and
overhead protection. This work was in hand at the end of the
year.
Owing to the difficulty of providing overhead protection in
the wards and the need that there might be of refraining, because
of the serious condition of the patient, from subjecting him to the
strain of moving him, it was decided to construct an annexe to
the diphtheria ward of sufficient size to accommodate at least
two patients, which afforded satisfactory lateral and overhead
protection.
On a previous occasion the question of the limited accommodation
in the Nurses' Home at the South Harrow Hospital had
been considered, but in view of the then likelihood of the further
need of the hospital and of the home being of short duration, it
was decided that no action should be taken. With a view to
improving conditions, however, this year a building has been
erected, one portion of which will afford accommodation for
Matron's office and improve the conditions under which visitors
to the hospital can be interviewed, and the remainder will provide
an additional recreation room for the nurses.
The remaining structural changes made at the hospital are
the construction of overground shelters provided with bunks for
the protection of the staff during raids. No such provision had
previously been made as it had been assumed that raiding would
be intensive for short intervals and that for those periods the
staff would be in the wards.
Pending the erection of the new Isolation Hospital reliance
has had to be placed on the goodwill of other authorities to accept