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It was not long before additional accommodation was necessary
for certain purposes, and one of the first departments
requiring enlargement was the Nurses' Home: indeed, the
accommodation for resident nurses has never kept pace with
the demands. Other developments included the provision of
an operating theatre, which had not been provided in the original
plan. The Board of Guardians was very active in developing
the Hospital, and the provision of the Light Department can
be quoted as a good example. I am indebted to Dr. W. J.
O'Donovan, O.B.E., M.D., M.R.C.P., for a report on the work
of his department, from which the following extracts are quoted:—
Twenty-five years ago, when Dr. Muir was the Medical
Superintendent and Miss Clark the Matron, I was appointed
by the West Ham Board of Guardians, Light Consultant
to this Hospital. I was requested to design the department,
choose its equipment, and when it was ready I took charge.
Sister Christie was given to me as chief of the nursing side,
and the work has gone on ever since.
Treatment has been given my means of powerful carbonarc
general light baths, mercury-vapour light baths of
greater intensity; local light is administered by the
Krohmayer lamp, a variant of the world-famous Finsen
lamp, and penerating infra-red rays are given by a large
special installation in which electrical resistances are
embedded in carborundum slabs that are arched over the
parts treated.
At the beginning we were occupied largely with an
accumulation of cases of lupus and crippling chronic
arthritis that had no future. The lupus patients were discharged
cured and their places taken by a small number
arriving locally or lodged in the Hospital by special arrangements
from distant local authorities who had no facilities.
The dreadful cases of arthritis who had to be manhandled
for every purpose were discharged from the Hospital
by enthusiastic medical officers as soon as they were able
to do up their own buttons, but the arthritic problem, with
less intensity, keeps the department very busy.
During this long period there have been no lamentable
accidents to the patients nor to the apparatus, owing to
the skill and care of the Sister in charge.
There have been, naturally, difficulties of many kinds,
all of which have been overcome, and there are only two
matters of moment that call for attention—one is the very
real need of an assistant nurse in the department or
assistant physiotherapist in training; and, secondly, the
change of the electrical supply from direct to alternating
current and the dismantling of the large dynamo which has
served us so well for a quarter of a century.
In the future we may be moved from the basement,
because as this Hospital develops, of necessity this special
and valuable treatment must be put at the disposal of
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