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HOSPITALS
GENERAL STATEMENT
The Institutions owned and controlled by the County Borough
Council are the following:— (1) Whipps Cross Hospital; (2)
Forest Gate Hospital; (3) Harold Wood Hospital; (4) Isolation
Hospital, Plaistow; (5) Dagenham Sanatorium; (6) Langdon
Hill Sanatorium; (7) South Ockendon Colony; (8) Central
Home;, (9) Forest House. Of these, Central Home and Forest
House are controlled by the Social Services Committee. Beds
in all the Institutions, except the two Sanatoria, the Isolation
Hospital and South Ockendon Colony, are allocated to the
Essex County Council and the East Ham Borough Council under
a User Agreement. The proportions are 34 per cent, for Essex
and 16 per cent. for East Ham.
This section of the report deals with all these Institutions
except the Isolation Hospital, the two Sanatoria and South
Ockendon Colony, which are more completely dealt with in the
sections devoted to infectious diseases, tuberculosis and mental
deficiency.
WHIPPS CROSS HOSPITAL
Report by Dr. A. Norman Jones, F.R.C.S.,
Medical Superintendent
Whipps Cross Hospital is a general hospital providing beds
for medical and surgical cases, together with separate sections
for children and the chronic sick;, there is no maternity department.
Under the National Health Service Act, 1946, the
Hospital will pass to the North-East Metropolitan Regional
Hospital Board, and a new Hospital Management Committee
will be set up. It is anticipated that these changes will have
occurred before this report is published, and it is thought
appropriate, therefore, to make reference to the development
of the Hospital.
In 1895 the West Ham Board of Guardians purchased the
Forest House Estate, comprising 44 acres of grounds, with
the intention of erecting Poor Law Schools. Forest House
itself was converted into a branch workhouse for 300 old men,
to afford temporary relief to the Central Workhouse at Union
Road, Leytonstone. Eventually the plan to build Poor Law
Schools was abandoned in favour of a proposal to erect a modern
hospital, and as a result Whipps Cross Hospital was built and
opened on 25th March, 1903. The accommodation was for 674
patients, including mental cases. There was a stable for two
horses, an ambulance shed, and the Nurses' Home was planned
to accommodate 72 nurses, which at that time was thought to
be sufficient. The original cost was £186,665. Under the West
Ham Board of Guardians the institution progressed steadily, and
was soon known as one of the leading infirmaries in the country.
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