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APPENDIX XXX.
POET OF LONDON AUTHORITY AIR-RAID PRECAUTIONS SCHEME.
Part I.—Denton Hospital.
The uses to which, it is suggested, Denton Hospital should be put are as follows:—
1. It will continue to fulfil its normal function, i.e., the isolation and treatment of cases of
infectious disease found in ships entering the Port.
2. As a decontamination centre for the crews and passengers of " gassed " ships entering the
Port.
3. As a casualty clearing station for wounded crews and passengers consequent upon bombardment
of ships in or entering the River.
(a) Its Normal Function.
It is suggested that the Cubicle Block should continue to be employed exclusively for the reception of
infectious cases, and be rendered as far as possible gas-proof. It will be remembered that in an earlier
scheme presented to your Worshipful Committee it was suggested that the Cubicle Block and the corridor
linking it with the Administrative Block should as far as possible be rendered splinter-proof and gas-proof.
To render the block splinter-proof would necessitate the protection of the walls and windows with sand-bags.
This would take time, and when completed would exclude natural light from the building.
Your Medical Officer, after consultation with Admiral Oldham, is rather inclined to suggest that this
protection, though of great value, is impracticable as a permanent or semi-permanent scheme, though it
might be decided that it should be done as part of urgent measures after the outbreak of hostilities. As a
permanent scheme it would seem sufficient to render the Cubicle Block gas-proof to the extent of supplying
removable frames composed of a double layer of wire mesh with blanket material interposed, tacked on to a
wooden stretcher made to fit on to the inside of the windows, and to supply a quantity of tongued and
grooved matchboarding for the construction of an air-lock chamber immediately outside the entrance of
the ward. The interior glass partitions would have to be protected from fracture by pasting cellophane
sheets on to the glass.
In the event of an air-raid the Gravesend area would no doubt be " blacked out," and it would be
necessary to supply light-proof blinds for the windows of the Cubicle Block. Alternatively, it may be
possible to exclude all light by employing light-proof blanketing in the window frames referred to above.
A supply of candles in suitable carriers must be available as an alternative means of illumination.
It is suggested that estimates of the cost of this work should be made as soon as possible, and that the
work should be carried out forthwith.
It might be necessary to restrict admission to the more dangerous types of epidemic disease (with the
exception of smallpox) and to make arrangements with the Gravesend Isolation Hospital or possibly with
some other isolation hospital in the near vicinity for the removal and treatment of the less dangerous types
of infectious disease.
The question of smallpox presents a difficulty, and later in this Beport it will be suggested that the
Smallpox Block should be used for other purposes. Smallpox cases are not likely to occur frequently or
in any number, and it is suggested that should smallpox be found on board a ship arriving in the Port,
arrangements should be made for transport and isolation to a smallpox hospital deep in the country.
Possibly the Kent County Council would agree to receive cases of this kind.
(b) Decontamination Centre.
The decontamination of crews and passengers who have been subjected to aerial bombardment by gas,
and of their clothing and effects, is likely to present serious and urgent problems and Denton Isolation
Hospital, in view of its situation, could serve a very useful purpose. In the first place, means are already
available in the Hospital for stoving quantities of clothing and equipment, and very little alteration of
the plant would be needed for this purpose ; the exhaust from the Washington Lyons Disinfector, which
would contain noxious gases, would have to be led into some sort of decontaminating pit but that, as far
as can be estimated, is all that would be necessary in the way of reconstruction of the existing plant and
premises.
The existing delousing rooms could without much difficulty be converted for use as decontaminating
rooms, for which they are well adapted. Persons whose clothing was contaminated would enter the "dirty"
side and there be undressed, then take their bath and emerge into the "clean" side to receive fresh clothing.
It might be necessary to erect screens in order completely to separate the "dirty" from the "clean" side,
but this could be done quite cheaply and effectively by means of blankets saturated with decontaminating
material. At present, waste water from the baths and showers runs into open gutters and thence into a
drain outside the building. These gutters would have to be closed in, otherwise they would give off noxious
gases. This could probably be done by means of matchboarding.
It would be necessary to erect a small wooden shed (12 ft. by 10 ft.) outside the "dirty" entrance,
wherein to remove the more heavily contaminated external clothing, in order as far as possible to reduce the
contamination of the "dirty" side.
The windows of the delousing block would have to be gas-proofed in the manner described above.
Contaminated Wounded.
Arrangements would have to be made for the emergency treatment of wounded who were at the same
time contaminated, and it is suggested that the Smallpox Block should be adapted for this purpose. The