View report page

51
HOSPITAL.
The present Isolation Hospital was built in 1898, and
added to in 1902. The original Hospital consisted of three
blocks, containing respectively 10, 4, and 6 beds; together
with an administrative block, laundry, ambulance shed,
stable and coach-house, and a small mortuary.
In 1902 another block of 26 beds was added, the administrative
block enlarged, another mortuary provided, and
a discharge block built.
In 1905 a house was built just outside the Hospital,
which provides accommodation for 8 convalescent Scarlet
Fever patients. That is, the patients, or the number of
them that we can accommodate, are disinfected through the
discharge block, have fresh disinfected clothes provided, and
then they are transferred to this house for a fortnight or so
before going home. It thus makes a "half-way house"
between the Hospital and the home. The hope was to limit
the number of return cases, as several patients caught cold
on leaving the discharge block straight for home, developed
a discharge from nose or ears, and so infected other children.
In June of the past year the new extension to the
Hospital was opened. This gives additional accommodation
for 26 patients, as the new block consists of two main wards
of 12 beds each, with two side wards for one patient each.
On the upper floor are 12 bedrooms for the nursing staff,
with separate sitting-room accommodation for Sisters and
Nurses. There is also a kitchen, living room, and the usual
offices, with accommodation also for a resident medical
officer. This upper floor is reached by an outside staircase
at each end, so that there is no direct communication between
the wards and the staff quarters.