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cases of dual infection. In the future it is intended to use it for
similar purposes or for the admission of complicated cases of
Measles and Whooping Cough as required. The total accommodation
at the end of 1932 was 64 beds for Scarlet Fever, 56 beds for
Diphtheria, 24 Cubicle beds (12 cubicles), 20 beds for Tuberculosis,
Mixed, 10, Total 174.
Staffing.—Comparing the nursing stafi at the end of 1932 with
that at the end of 1930 there was a nett increase of two Staff Nurses
and one Probationer. This additional staff has enabled the working
hours of the night staff to be reduced to 52 hours. The hours worked
by the day staff at the end of 1932 were Sisters, 54 hours; Staff
Nurses and Probationers, 56 hours.
A female telephone operator and assistant to the storekeeper
was appointed towards the end of the year.
The ratio of Nurses to total patient beds was 1 to 5.8 and of
domestics to total patient beds was 1 to 9.7.
General.—The Essex County Council have announced a
scheme under Section 63 of the Local Government Act, 1929, for a
Joint Hospital Board to provide a Hospital of 261 beds for the
Boroughs of Walthamstow and Leyton on the site of and including
your Council's present Hospital. Your Council have re-affirmed
their opposition to the proposal.
The agreement with the Epping Urban District Council was
renewed subject to 6 months' notice of termination on either side.
During the year a total of eleven "relapses" or second attacks
of Scarlet Fever occurred in patients originally admitted with this
disease. The majority occurred, as expected, in the autumn when
the wards were full. There is no known method of avoiding this
complication unless cases can be nursed in separate cubicles.
At certain periods of the year when pressure on the Diphtheria
beds became heavy, virulence tests were resorted to in all cases
which, on admission, showed only non-clinical or "bacteriological"
Diphtheria. In addition, virulence tests were done in most cases
which gave persistently positive swabs after about 6 weeks. Thus
a total of 90 virulence tests were done during the year for patients
in the Hospital and a further 15 for patients attending the Infectious
Disease Clinic.
Of the 105 swabs taken for virulence tests in 1932, 6 gave no
growth. The remaining 99 showed only 12 to have been fully
virulent although the great majority had been taken from patients