[Report 1936] / Medical Officer of Health, Maidstone U.D.C. / Borough.

  • Maidstone (England). Urban District Council.
Date:
1936
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1936] / Medical Officer of Health, Maidstone U.D.C. / Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    32/52 (page 30)
    There was a proposal some live years ago that the Borough should combine with the neighbouring Rural Districts to provide a larger and more up-to-date hospital to serve all the districts. This was the suggestion from the County Council, but it met with much opposition from the Local Authorities. It certainly has advantages in theory : it might be more economical and it certainly would be easier to staff one larger hospital, than a series of small Isolation Hospitals, but there are grave drawbacks of site, distance and cost of administration, inseparable from an institution serving a combination of authorities, which are particularly notable in the suggested site in this case. The feeling of the Councils concerned was distinctly that of “Sinn Fein ”—“Ourselves alone,” and lor five years the matter has been left undecided. This is a most unsatisfactory state of affairs, for naturally the Maidstone Corporation is loth to embark on a scheme of reconstruction and enlargement of the hospital, until the future of the institution is decided. Additional beds, and space for other diseases than merely scarlet fever and diphtheria are needed : the nurses quarters, the kitchens, bathrooms, laundry and mortuary need extension and improvement : cubicle wards and, I should hope, private wards are required. Space is available for these extensions, but it is necessary that all doubt as to the retention of this hospital should be settled before any such scheme of re-construction could be undertaken. School notifications of infectious and other diseases are sent to me by the Head Teachers of the Public Elementary Schools and also of the Boys’ and Girls’ Grammar Schools. These notifica¬ tions are of very great assistance in the investigation of cases and the discovery of possible contacts. This is particularly the case in the non-notifiable diseases, such as measles and chickenpox, where these school notifications are often the only channel of information. Particulars of the incidence of notifiable diseases—other than tuberculosis—in the area during 1936, are set out below. Disease. Total Cases Notified. Cases Admitted to Hospital. Total Deaths. Scarlet Fever 43 43 — Diphtheria 47 47 3 Pneumonia 12 1 34 Puerperal Pyrexia 6 6 1 Puerperal Fever ... 1 1 — Erysipelas... 14 12 — Ophthalmia Neonatorum 3 3 — Dysentery IS IS Totals ... 149 131 3S