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the patient was himself infective or possibly was a contact of another
who was infectious and therefore might be a spreader of infection could
not be admitted to the general ward of a general hospital. Many general
hospitals have provided isolation accommodation very often in the same
block as other wards. Such accommodation could be used only for the
reception of infectious cases of low infectivity. It is very necessary that
those attending the patients should have a sound knowledge of aseptic
and antiseptic technique. To a growing extent, then, those suffering
from any infective condition have been admitted to isolation hospitals,
and to a correspondingly less degree to the general hospitals. The
isolation hospital of to-day, then, is staffed and equipped much as a
general hospital, because it might have to admit for treatment those
suffering from conditions which need these resources. In some countries
the tendency has been to deal with infectious cases not in a separate
institution, but in an isolation block of a general hospital. This development
is gradually gaining favour in this country, and it might be that
any new large hospital to be erected will contain the necessary proportion
of isolation accommodation.
Under the National Health Service Act, virtually all hospitals were
transferred to the Minister, their administration to be in the hands of
the Regional Hospital Boards. Amongst the hospitals transferred are
the isolation hospitals provided and maintained by the local sanitary
authorities. Of the two institutions in this district for the reception of
those suffering from infectious diseases, the Minister had already agreed
to the conversion of the Honeypot Lane Isolation Hospital into a residential
nursery. As such, then, it has passed into the hands not of the
Regional Hospital Board, but of the County Council to be administered
by their Children's Department. The other, the South Harrow Isolation
Hospital, was transferred to the Regional Hospital Board. It had for
years been apparent that the fall in the prevalence of many of the infections
meant that the needs of the district would at most times be met by accommodation
of some 100 beds. This is below the optimum size for an
independent isolation hospital unit. Approach had therefore been made
to the Borough of Hendon with a view to considering whether an extended
Hendon Isolation Hospital could not meet the needs of this
district. This proposal was favourably considered by the Councils of
both districts, and as a later development it was agreed that the Hendon
Hospital could be extended to provide accommodation sufficient to meet
the needs of the three districts, Hendon, Wembley and Harrow. No
further development took place though, in view of the changes which
were to be brought about by the operation of the National Health Service
Act. The Regional Board, however, felt that Harrow's needs of isolation
could be met by Hendon. In July then the South Harrow Isolation
Hospital was closed as an Isolation Hospital, and is being used as an
Institution run in association with the Edgware General Hospital for
the further nursing of patients transferred from that Hospital. Infectious
cases from Harrow therefore, are now admitted to the Hendon Isolation
Hospital. As in the case of demand for other hospital accommodation,
the assistance of the Emergency Bed Service can be sought by general
practitioners if their patients cannot be admitted to the Hendon Hospital.