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General and Special Hospitals and
Children's Homes.
Arrangements for Treatment.
(a) Provided by Local Authority, (b) Maternity, (c)
Orthopaedic, (d) Ear, Nose, and Throat, (e) Puerperal
Fever and Pyrexia, (f) Ophthalmia Neonatorum.
There are no further comments to make on the Council's
arrangements under the above headings. Particulars have been
set out in previous reports.
(g) Runwell Mental Hospital.
East Ham and Southend-on-Sea Joint Hospital Board.
The new hospital for mental and nervous diseases at Runwell
is situated on a site of 500 acres between Wickford and Rettenden,
Essex, about 24 miles from East Ham and 12 miles from
Southend.
The various units are magnificently placed on a slight slope
open to the south and sheltered from the east, north and west by
rising and well-wooded ground, and are widely spaced so as to
allow for ample admission of sunlight to the grounds and buildings.
In this way, it is hoped that an atmosphere may be
engendered of light and airy buildings without obtrusive restraint
and with a freedom from the institutional feeling. Wide verandahs
with large solaria and airy rooms with French windows
enable the patients to feel that they are in a sanatorium rather
than a great institution.
The hospital accommodates 1,010 patients, and forms a fully
equipped community of approximately 1,400 people, with some
twenty-five to thirty separate units each specially planned for its
purpose.
The central administrative unit contains the PhysicianSuperintendent's
office, committee rooms, clerical offices and
waiting rooms, with a well-equipped library for the use of
patients and staff, a lecture theatre and sister tutor's demonstration
room.