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On 17th December, 1895, the Vestry had before them a letter from the Clerk to the
Metropolitan Asylums Board, forwarding for the Vestry's information copy of a letter which
he recently addressed to Sir Edwin Galsworthy, relative to the difficulties experienced by
the Managers with regard to accommodation for patients suffering from scarlet fever and
diphtheria, and the steps the Managers had taken and were taking to meet such difficulties
by the provision of an adequate extension of such accommodation, of which the following is
a reprint:—
METROPOLITAN ASYLUMS BOARD.
Norfolk House, Norfolk Street,
Strand, W.C.,
29th November, 1895.
Dear Sir Edwin,
During the past year or two, when the Managers' Hospitals have been full, and
admission has had to be refused to urgent cases of scarlet fever in consequcnce of lack of
beds, it has been frequently urged that the Managers ought to "do something" to increase
their accommodation, and it has more than once been at least suggested that they have been
negligent in the matter of provision of adequate accommodation.
In answer, therefore, to your request for a statement of the facts, I will endeavour to
state, as briefly and as clearly as I can, exactly what the Managers have done and are doing
to cope with the difficulty in which they are undoubtedly placed, and how far they can, with
any justice, be accused of negligence or want of foresight in this matter.
Five years ago, when I became Clerk to the Board, the Board possessed six lever
hospitals with a total normal accommodation of 2,110 beds. They had felt pressure in the
east end of London, and had already come to the conclusion that a new hospital "for the
relief of the Eastern Hospital" was required, and they were making diligent search for a
suitable site. That search, as you are aware, was somewhat protracted, owing to the density
in the east end and the consequent dearth, or rather, as it ultimately proved, entire absence
of a suitable site within the Metropolitan area; and, in April, l891, they were compelled to
select a site outside the Metropolitan area, at Tottenham. The difficulties they encountered
before this site was ultimately acquired are well known, and I need not further refer to them.