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patients, and it is not good to let out-patients wander into
the dark basements of the Hospital. It is not good to
have an important department hidden, with a real difficulty
of approach, and the present crowded department cannot
be expanded.
If any of the original members of the Board can be
communicated with, I should be happy if they could be
informed that their good wishes at its inception have
fructified into 25 years' continuous and beneficial work for
grave medical and surgical cases of illness.
In another direction the Guardians were equally active, as
they were concerned with the number of nurses on the staff,
and made several endeavours to persuade the Local Government
Board to permit an increase in nursing staff sufficient to allow
reasonable off-duty.
During the 1914-1918 war part of the Hospital was taken
over by the War Office for military patients, and on Saturday,
17th November, 1917, the Hospital was visited by their
Majesties King George and Queen Mary, who, first of all,
visited the military patients and then proceeded to the Nurses'
Recreation Room, where the Queen presented prizes and certificates
to the nurses. It is noteworthy that one of the successful
students that day recently retired from the Hospital, where she
had been a member of he staff for 34 years.
By the Local Government Act of 1930, the Hospital passed
to the control of the County Borough of West Ham, who
entered into a user agreement with East Ham and Essex to
make provision for patients from the former Borough and parts
of the latter' county. Consideration was given to a large-scale
development of the Hospital and plans drawn up to add new
ward blocks to provide accommodation for some further 500
patients. In addition, the Nurses' Home was doubled in size,
a new maids' home added, and a new house built for the doctors.
New receiving wards and an operating theatre were also to be
provided. These various new departments were brought into
use in 1939.
During the second world war the Hospital was actively
engaged in dealing with air-raid casualties, wounded soldiers,
etc., in addition to continuing its work for the civilian sick of the
district. In all, the Hospital was involved in 22 incidents, the
most serious of which occurred in 1945, when a rocket fell in a
field north of Forest House Cottages, four of which were badly
damaged. The Hospital itself suffered mainly superficial damage
of blast to joinery, glazing, ceilings, etc. As soon as possible
after the conclusion of hostilities the Hospital was restored to its
normal activities, and at an early date plans for further development
were considered. As has already been reported, it was
apparent that the chief difficulty was accommodation for resident
nurses.
Reference has been made in the Reports for 1945 and 1946
to the developments which are considered desirable, and it has
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