The labour movement and the hospital crisis
1922 1922 1920s 21 pages terest in their work, and their knowledge and handicraft would be kept abreast of the time by daily contact with consultants and specialists and with hospital methods. Moreover, general practitioners should have beds under their own control for the treatment of such of their...
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| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English English |
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London ; published by the Trades Union Congress and the Labour Party
[1922]
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/62971249-8596-4CDA-BFED-4BE72EE15212 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/8CAA5B66-ADDA-468D-9D6F-9891A5F3F215 |
| Summary: | 1922
1922
1920s
21 pages
terest in their work, and their knowledge and handicraft would be kept abreast of the time by daily contact with consultants and specialists and with hospital methods. Moreover, general practitioners should have beds under their own control for the treatment of such of their cases as do not require the services of a specialist, and where there is no local or cottage hospital certain wards in the larger General Hospitals should be set aside for this purpose. It is equally important that general practitioners should have a recognised call on hospital consultants and specialists for help with patients of all classes who are being treated in their own homes. This would be of advantage to the hospital staff, for it is as important for them to get an insight into home conditions as it is for general practitioners to be in touch with hospital methods. An intimate association between general practitioners and the hospitals and between the consultants and the patients' home conditions is, then, another ideal for which the Labour Movement works. PRESENT HOSPITAL ACCOMMODATION For the realisation of these ideals very ample hospital accommodation is essential. Accommodation can best be reckoned by the number of hospital beds available for the treatment of general diseases and accidents, and it has been found on investigation that at the present time there are absurdly few in comparison with the number required to deal with the present population of Great Britain. In the United Kingdom there are 52,194 beds, distributed as follows : London (Metropolitan area) 12,797, the rest of England and Wales 31,265, and Scotland 8,132.* That this number is far too few is shown by the long waiting lists for admission at nearly all hospitals, and especially in London and the larger industrial centres. It is only found possible to admit cases requiring active surgical treatment and acute medical cases, together with a few cases of special scientific interest and some of value for teaching purposes. This deficiency of beds is aggravated by lack of organisation and by a faulty distribution of hospital accommodation. "We are impressed . . . with the view that the present lack of organisation and co-operation among the Voluntary Hospitals not only detracts from their efficiency, but is the cause of much avoidable expenditure. . . . The present practice leads to overlapping, to needless multiplication of clerical staffs and of expensive apparatus, and to waste of bed space which is badly required. One hospital may be full and have a long waiting list, while another has vacant beds." ** County or Group of Counties. Population. Present No. of Beds. Proportion per 1,000 of the Population. Estimated No required at 2½ per 1,000 (see below). Gloucester and Somerset ...... 1,194,199 1,866 1.50 2,975 Berks and Oxfordshire......... 470,305 637 1.35 1,175 Lancs, and Cheshire ......... 4,723,393 5,745 1.21 11,807 Cornwall and Devon ......... 1,027,870 1,240 1.20 2,570 Derbyshire ............... 683,562 771 1.10 1,710 Cambs. and Hunts............ 253,667 242 .95 635 Yorkshire.................. 3,980,451 3,736 .93 9,950 Wilts..................... 286,876 268 .91 715 Suffolk .................. 394,080 313 .80 985 Durham and Northumberland ... 2,067,025 1,461 .70 5,000 Monmouthshire ............ 395,778 206 .52 987 Bucks..................... 219,583 97 .45 550 Total ... 15,696,789 16,582 1.06 39,056 * Voluntary Hospitals Committee : Final Report (Cmd. 1335), p. 5. ** Voluntary Hospitals Committee : Final Report, p. 13. 3
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |