Annual report : 1943 / Hospital of St. Cross, Rugby.

  • Hospital of St. Cross (Rugby, England)
Date:
1943
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report : 1943 / Hospital of St. Cross, Rugby. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    10/36 (page 10)
    During 1943 contributions were earmarked for the Development Fund as a result of a small appeal conducted during the Wings for Victory Week and mention should also be made of the effort which produced £200 from the Rugby Co-opera¬ tive Society’s employees on the initiative of Mr. and Mrs. E. T. Clench. This latter amount has been earmarked for the Maternity Block which will be erected after the War. It is hoped that in this, the 60th year since the establishment of the Hospital of St. Cross, that gifts both large and small will be forthcoming for the Develop¬ ment Fund so that in the next report it will be possible to announce that a sub¬ stantial proportion of the £100,000 required will actually have been received or promised. Schemes in Progress. Considerable public interest has been aroused by the admitted shortage of beds in the Rugby area for normal maternity cases. At the beginning of the year representations were made to the Board of Management by the organisatioi now known as the Standing Conference of Women’s Organisations, asking if the Board could do something to relieve the situation. Notwithstanding all its other commitments, the Board of Management unhesitatingly agreed to shoulder this further additional responsibility and at the Annual General Meeting provision was made by the alteration of the Rules to enable the Hospital of St. Cross to deal with normal maternity cases. As a temporary measure to relieve the acute situation, plans were prepared for the alteration of the existing buildings, so as to provide a self-contained Maternity Unit of 12 beds. The Board are pleased to announce that permission to carry out this scheme has been obtained and work has been commenced, and the new Unit should be open for use in the Summer of 1944. The cost of the building work and equipment will very largely be met out of the proceeds of the “ People,” to which reference has been made earlier in this report. Owing to the increase in the number of the Nursing Staff employed, the problem of their accommodation has caused considerable difficulty and increasing anxiety. Thanks to the good offices of the Ministry of Health, the situation will shortly be relieved by the erection of the pre-fabricated hut which will provide accommodation for 20 nurses. It should be realised that the foregoing schemes are a temporary solution and are not intended to replace the schemes for the permanent development of the Hospital referred to above. * Rehabilitation and Resettlement. Another development of first-rate importance which the Hospital has under¬ taken during the year has been in connection with the subject of the rehabilitation of the disabled. In July the Hospital was visited by representatives of the Ministry of Health, who reported that the Hospital had a large and well-developed Orthopaedic and Fracture Clinic of which it was justly proud, the buildings being modern and well planned,with ample fresh air and large grounds on which remedial exercises and games could be undertaken. The report went on to refer to the excellence of the Massage Department and Gymnasium and to the fact that the Physicians and Surgeons were fully alive to the need for preventing acute medical conditions drifting into chronic disease, as well as tbe need for measures to be taken whereby patients disabled as the result of disease or accident could by means of exercises, games, diversional and occupational therapy, be restored mentally and physically and able to return to their former occupations or if that proved to be impossible, then to alternative occupations in which they could be economically independent. Recommendations for further action included proposals to develop occpa- tional therapy, to employ an additional masseuse to institute general exercises in all Wards and especially the Medical Wards, and to develop exercises, remedial games and various forms of handicrafts and occupations not only for in-patients but also for out-patients, until they are fit for work. The Hospital also undertook