Report submitted to His Royal Highness the Commander in Chief, upon the subject of the out pensioners of Chelsea Hospital, that have been under treatment for diseases of the eyes : also, the reports made by the medical officers of Chelsea Hospital upon the cases of those patients.

  • Great Britain. Army Medical Board.
Date:
1819
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report submitted to His Royal Highness the Commander in Chief, upon the subject of the out pensioners of Chelsea Hospital, that have been under treatment for diseases of the eyes : also, the reports made by the medical officers of Chelsea Hospital upon the cases of those patients. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    7/94 (page 7)
    rience, since these men have returned to Scot- land have proved our doubt to be well-founded. We therefore beg leave to suggest that all the out-pensioners v^ho have been under treatment by him at York Hospital, and hitherto not seen, may be re-examined by a competent board, and a report made on their present state. If our view of the subject be correct, the utmost that has been accomplished by Sir Wil- liam Adams is that, by means of certain opera- tions long known and practised, but which never can render one man fit for military service, some out-pensioners have had their vision im- proved. Should it be the intention of Govern- ment to continue to afford this humane aid to blind pensioners; it appears to us it may be effected at much less expence to the public, and with less trouble and inconvenience to the out- pensioners, if a ward or wards were appropri- ated for their admission in the General Hospi- tal at Fort Pitt, or at the Detachment Hospital at the Isle of Wight, and at Edinburgh; at each of which places a medical officer is retained quite as competent as Sir William Adams to perform all operations for the Eyes. We trust we shall neither be deemed to out- step the bounds of our professional duties, nor of decorum, if we suggest that medical aid ought equally to be extended to other out-pen- sioners, who, perhaps, have an equal claim to the compassion and bounty of the country.