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33
infectious cases which could not be accommodated in the local
institutions. On the whole the district has been particularly fortunate
in the limited number of occasions on which these authorities
have been unable to meet the demands of this area. It can be
anticipated, however, for a variety of reasons that greater difficulties
will be met with in future. One reason is that some of the isolation
hospitals have had at least part of their accommodation allocated
for E.M.S. purposes. It is understood in such circumstances
provided the demand by E.M.S. needs permits, that available
accommodation might, if required, be used for the original purpose.
Even though there are no E.M.S. demands, however, this does not
result in quite as fluid a reserve of beds as ordinarily obtains.
Having regard to the possible needs it is an urgent necessity that
as much as possible of the isolation facilities at the different hospitals
should be released for their intended purpose. Not only is the
available accommodation reduced in this way, and also by the
isolation hospital premises being no more exempt from being
damaged in raids than are other buildings, but the demands on
available accommodation are increased even though the incidence
of the infections for which isolation hospital beds are intended
does not increase, the greater pressure arising from increasing
demands made for the admission of patients suffering from infectious
conditions which are not ordinarily admitted to the
infectious diseases hospitals. These difficulties arise on the one
hand because of the congregation of persons in circumstances
which must cause a real risk of the spread of infection if the
infectious patient is not restrained from being admitted. While
the uncomplicated case of mumps can well be treated at home and
almost invariably is, difficulties arise if the family of which the
patient is a member goes to a public air raid shelter with the
patient, or where it is discovered that a child amongst the many
received in a rest centre proves to be suffering from some similar
minor infectious state, or where a child billeted in a household
develops one of these conditions. Then circumstances arise of a
patient ill of one of these conditions who, because of the raiding,
is removed to the best protected room in the house, there to mix
intimately with the rest of the family. It is appreciated the
anxiety that is caused amongst the parents of other children even
though they may be free from anxiety on their own account, that
the presence of an infective person gives rise to, but in spite of the
impression gathered from different documents that in certain
circumstances hospital accommodation is available for the admission
of patients thereby removing them from the congregation
where they might spread disease, the fact remains that the accommodation
just is not there, at least in this district, which is dependent
on there being in some other area beds surplus to the needs of
that area, needs which these authorities must themselves find
hard to meet.
c