View report page

13
It was my unpleasant job, as a member of the Rotary Club, to assist at one of these efforts.
I was, by reason of my membership, allotted the task of taking charge of a table on which pennies
were jerked up slightly inclined planes with a series of numbered circles on them, and the players
were rewarded pro-rata to the number in the circle on which the penny was ultimately pushed. Things
got very slack, and I happened to have a cheap watch which was doing duty whilst my ordinary one
was being repaired; its total value was only about five shillings. To hasten things up I put this on
the circle with the highest chance. On several occasions I very nearly threw the whole thing up,
as it positively hurt me to see people throwing money away in the effort to get that watch. Nobody
won it.
We made a considerable sum of money, and the majority of it was made from youngsters
and poor people who really could not afford the amount they spent.
To come down to concrete facts, our local hospital, according to the annual report for 1933,
spent £9,096, roughly a 3¾d. rate, and out of that sum the total sum paid to the medical profession,
which includes the salaries paid to two House Surgeons, amounts to the vast sum of £354 9s. 1d.
I ask in common fairness to the profession I have the honour to belong to, " Is it right, is it decent ? "
Patients contributed for their medical attention a sum amounting to £5,542, of which the
medical profession got the balance that was left of £354 9s. Id. when £250 had been paid to the House
Surgeons and extra sums for locums, and of that balance only two-thirds went to the medical profession.
Say it is £75 for the sake of argument, then the whole of the emoluments which went to the medical
profession for their services to the sick public in this area amount all told to £50 a year, which is less
than £1 a week between the whole of the medical staff! *
There is surely a serious want of perspective as to what is due to the medical profession for
the services they render to the sick public.
Speaking as an administrator, as one who has been Medical Superintendent of two hospitals,
and under sectional control of two others, I say without hesitation, that if the burden was adequately
shouldered by the Local Authority there could be made at no great cost, adequate provision of the
best possible type sufficient for the needs of the district, and with what should be an adequate remuneration
to the medical profession of the district for the services they render to-the public.
The question may be asked, "Is it possible for the Borough Council to provide, or take over
by purchase, an existing hospital ?" There is no doubt that Section 131 of the Public Health Act,
1875, gives authority for them to provide hospital accommodation for any Burgesses suffering from
any type of disease, not necessarily infectious.
The only exception which has been ruled against this Section is contained in one by the Ministry
of Health, that Maternity Homes cannot be provided under Section 131 by reason of the fact that
a lying-in woman is not sick.
There is no escaping from the fact that the present accommodation is sadly below the real
requirements of the district, particularly from the point of view of medical cases and children.
Until the appointment of a Consulting Physician recently, I am informed that it was not possible
to give the Nurses adequate training by reason of the fact that there were not the requisite number
of medical cases in the hospital on which to train.
(1) General.—Hounslow Hospital, Staines Road.—This is the only Voluntary Hospital
within the district. It is a modern and well-equipped institution, with 72 beds, including a children's
ward and X-ray Department. During the year, there were admitted 980 in-patients, whilst 4,156
new out-patients received treatment.
West Middlesex County Hospital, Isleworth.—The large public institutions formerly
administered by the Brentford Board of Guardians, and now transferred by virtue of the Local Government
Act, 1929, to the Middlesex County Council, are situated at the eastern end, and receive patients
and inmates from the constituent parishes of: Acton, Chiswick, Ealing, Greenford, Hanwell, Heston
and Isleworth, New Brentford, Old Brentford, Perivale, Twickenham, and West Twyford.
An increasing number of patients are now being sent from the Staines and Uxbridge areas
who were formerly dealt with in their own locality. This is the result of the more up-to-date equipment
and facilities for treatment which exist at the West Middlesex County Hospital, as compared
with the local institutions.
The Royal Hospital (Richmond), West London Hospital (Hammersmith), and other
large General Hospitals within the Metropolitan area are within comparatively easy reach by tram,
bus, District Railway, or Ambulance, and although definite particulars are not available, it is certain
that many people apply to these Hospitals outside the district.
The Council annually subscribe £200 to the Hounslow Hospital and £50 to the Royal Hospital,
Richmond.
*(According to figures from the Hospital Annual Report and as supplied by the Secretary).