Reports of the commissioners on metropolitan infirmaries.

  • Lancet Sanitary Commission for Investigating the State of the Infirmaries.
Date:
[1866]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Reports of the commissioners on metropolitan infirmaries. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, through the Medical Heritage Library. The original may be consulted at the Francis A. Countway Library of Medicine, Harvard Medical School.

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    The flock-beds on which the patients lie in the great majority of infirmaries, are very unsatisfactory and comfort- less. Flock is a nasty material in itself; and we are informed by the master of the Paddington Workhouse that horsehair (which he has introduced at his establishment) is not only more comfortable, but, in the end, more economical. When a flock-bed is carelessly made up, with too little material, it soon works into a series of uncomfortable knobs. We are glad to notice the liberality which at Wandsworth and Rich- mond supplies each patient with a bed and mattress. Pillows should be far more plentifully supplied than is usually the case. Easy-chairs for convalescents are particularly wanted. And there is one matter the omission of which is the source, not only of great hardship, but of a degrading moral in- fluence : we refer to the supply of screens in the wards, by which temporary privacy might be obtained. We beg to recommend the universal adoption of night- stools with earthenware, not with metal, pans; the latter cannot easily be kept clean. With regard to water-closets, there is still a great deal to be done : they are in most cases by no means so numerous or so conveniently placed for the wards as they should be. In some of the old houses they are placed inside the wards ; and at St. James's, Westminster, not only are there two or three such closets, but the state of their ventilation and the defective arrangements for flushing render them a dangerous nuisance. After full consideration, we feel bound to protest against the continued use of the modified latrine system, which requires flushing at regular intervals : except at Marylebone, where great vigilance is exercised, we have not seen it act well; and we consider that trapped pans and self-action seats should be substituted. Finally, we protest against public closets : there should be screens between the seats. The general impression left on our minds by our inspection of the wards of the metropolitan workhouse infirmaries is that they are all more or less inefficiently managed from a want of the proper hospital organization. From this state-