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"Perched alongside the Thames river wall with its own causeway, the hospital is on
the outskirts of the town from which the Port of London Health Authority 'casts it net' to
catch sick passengers and seamen who arrive by sea from abroad.
"When sickness is known to be on board a ship, doctors go out by launch and examine
the patient. If he has an infectious disease or is suspected of having one, he is immediately
taken ashore to Denton Hospital.
"There he comes under the care of the assistant matron, Sister C. Carey and her staff
of two, and is accommodated in one of the 12 cubicles in the main block.
ALWAYS READY
"The hospital also has two open wards to take a further 10 or 12 patients. Everything
is kept in readiness, but it is only on rare occasions, such as when a year or two ago
Asiatic 'flu was raging, that every bed is taken up.
"Usually there are only one or two people in the wards at a time and sometimes for
several days on end, the hospital is without patients.
"Indians, Pakistanis and occasionally a Chinese make up the bulk of the intake into
the hospital and sometimes the language problem is tricky.
"'Most of them have some knowledge of English and we get along' Sister Carey told a
reporter. 'If we are in real difficulty and it is essential to communicate in detail with a
patient we can call upon interpreters'.
"Chickenpox and measles are the principal ailments we have to deal with. Asiatics are
apt to get it quite badly.
"Cases of diphtheria and typhoid are fortunately a thing of the past. Smallpox cases
are dealt with at a special hospital for the purpose at Long Reach, Dartford.
CHEERFUL PLACE
"Although the name Isolation Hospital has a sinister kind of ring, the hospital is, in
fact, a cheerful, airy place with most attractive gardens.
"The patients pass their time listening to the radio or looking at picture magazines.
"There are also toys for children for from time to time sick youngsters coming from
abroad have to spend a few days there.
"When a reporter called on Monday the only patient was a Yorkshire seaman recovering
from a bad attack of Influenza.
"Sister Carey, who has been at the hospital for six years, has a reminder of the gratitude
of one of her patients in her office—an intricately detailed model of a sailing ship
made by a Finnish seaman there in 1957.
"Catering sometimes has its perplexities, for some of the Oriental patients are strictly
religious and will not eat meat.
90 YEARS OLD
"The hospital, which was established about 90 years ago, is administered by Dartford
Hospital Management Committee, which would arrange for the nursing staff to be supplemented
should there be a rush of cases.
"Besides the permanent nursing staff, there are orderlies, domestic staff, a stoker and
a gardener.
"Although Denton Hospital has many empty beds most of the time—one of the few
Hospitals in such a position—it is on the alert day and night helping to keep the country in
good health."
(b) Surveillance and follow up of contacts
In the event of a vessel arriving on which there has been a case or cases of a major infectious
disease, all persons on board are considered to be possible contacts.
Each contact is interrogated as to the address to which he is proceeding immediately on disembarkation
and given a specially prepared three-part card on one section of which are to be
given full details as to name and the proposed address in the United Kingdom. These particulars,
together with an appropriate note of the circumstances, are then forwarded to the Medical Officer
of Health of the district in which the address of the contact is situated. The second section of
the card contains instructions to the contact. The third section of the card is for use by the
contact only if he should change his address within a specified period, usually up to the end of
the inoculation period of the disease in question. This part of the card is on the 'Business
Reply Card' system and so does not have to be stamped.
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