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44
ISOLATION HOSPITALS.
PROVISION OF ACCOMMODATION.
The Harrow Council fell heir to two institutions used for the reception
of infectious patients. The Harrow-on-the-Hill Council had, in 1896,
erected a 25-bedded hospital on a site of one-and-a-half acres in South
Harrow. In 1902, the Hendon Rural District Council erected a 17bedded
hospital on a site of 3.2 acres at Honeypot Lane.
Since amalgamation both institutions have been run as one unit,
acute cases being admitted to the South Harrow Hospital from which
convalescent scarlet fever patients were transferred to the Stanmore
Hospital. In general, only cases of scarlet fever and diphtheria have
been admitted locally, though in epidemic times wards have been opened
for those suffering from complications of influenza and of measles.
Patients suffering from other infectious complaints have been admitted
to the hospitals of other authorities, namely, the London County Council,
the Borough of Hendon, the Borough of Willesden, and the Uxbridge
and the Waltham Abbey Isolation Hospitals.
Local accommodation is unsatisfactory on many counts. It is
insufficient for the reception of all local infections, while the site of neither
hospital is large enough to enable suitable extensions to be made. The
single bed accommodation is extremely limited, so severely restricting
the types of cases which can be admitted for treatment.
A very rough standard of the accommodation for the infectious sick
required by any district is one bed per thousand population. It was,
therefore, decided in 1935 that a new hospital should be erected having
an immediate provision of 130 beds, with facilities for ultimate expansion
to 180, which it was thought would be adequate to meet the needs of the
population in the built-up district. Although a most suitable site had
been found, it was not until the summer of 1939 that all obstacles to the
construction of the new hospital were removed. By this time the final
draft of the conditions of the architectural competition had been agreed
upon, the assessor for the competition had been appointed, as had also
the consulting engineer, and an agreement had been reached with the
County Council on the question of the access roads, drainage and the
provision of other services.
The size of the hospital to be erected could be based only on
theoretical considerations as, of course, the district had not been developed
sufficiently long for there to be available statistics which would be a
guide to the extent of the prevalence of the infections. Ten years' actual
experience, though, has shown the needs of the district could have been
met by some 100 beds. On the other hand, though, whereas at one time
this was considered a sufficient number of beds for a satisfactory isolation
hospital unit, to-day's opinion is that the minimum should be nearer
200, a figure far in excess of the probable needs of the area.