Annual report 1954-1955 : Exminster Hospital, Digby Hospital, Wonford House Hospital / Devon Mental Hospital Management Committee.

  • Devon Mental Hospital Management Committee.
Date:
[1955?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Annual report 1954-1955 : Exminster Hospital, Digby Hospital, Wonford House Hospital / Devon Mental Hospital Management Committee. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    9/32 (page 7)
    W6 have inspected various properties with a view to their adapta¬ tion as long-stay annexes for senile patients, but in no case was the Regional Board prepared to purchase the property. In spite of the recruitment campaign in May, the shortage of qualified nurses and the insufficient intake of students for training persists and the situation is little better than it was a year ago. We obtained approval for a cadet nurses’ scheme and have recruited five cadets. It is hoped that they will, at the age of eighteen, enter into full student status. Details of new buildings and installations provided by the Regional Hospital Board’s capital allocation appear in an appendix to this report. At Exminster we now have a really fine Tuberculosis Sanato¬ rium. This was officially opened by the Chairman of the Board, Alderman Sir Havergal Downes-Shaw, in January, 1955. Financially we found, like all the Management Committees, that our allocation for maintenance was woefully inadequate, but the Treasurer of the Board was most sympathetic and the Board made a supplementary grant when the estimates were revised. Nevertheless, we suffered drastic cuts in the amount available for the maintenance of our buildings and plant ; the sum we were able to devote to this was less than in each of the two previous years. Meanwhile, the long-neglected buildings further deteriorated. A special grant to enable a start to be made in overtaking these arrears of maintenance has been given in the present year. The Finance Officer’s report, and a summary of the accounts, appear as an appendix to this report. The Committee deplores the restrictive effects of the present budgetary system which “ pegs ” expenditure in one year to an inadequate amount allotted in the previous year. This makes progress impossible. We need more capital if we are to expand and more money for maintenance if our present buildings are to be kept from decay. We hope that in our next report we shall see the result of a more generous attitude in the Treasury. Engineering services have been surveyed with a view to extension and modernisation. We anticipate eagerly our share of this special grant. Further progress has been made in centralizing administration, wherever this was likely to effect economy and increase efficiency. In March, 1955, a Group Invoice Office was set up at Exminster Hospital, staffed from existing resources. The construction of the new x-ray department permitted accommodation to be made avail¬ able for a modest group office. We are very happy that for Digby Hospital a major development scheme is included in the Minister’s Hospital Building Programme. We earnestly hope that in the second edition of this programme we shall read that Exminster Hospital is chosen for special attention.