Memorandum on the hospital accommodation for infectious diseases in Glasgow / by James B. Russell.

  • Russell, James Burn, 1837-1904.
Date:
1883
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Memorandum on the hospital accommodation for infectious diseases in Glasgow / by James B. Russell. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    47/72 (page 43)
    erections iii a time of epidemic pressure, but it ought to be pre- served as a clear space appropriated for the recreation of the officials, and as a path for the prevailing south-west wind leading right into the centre of the hospital pavilions. We are, therefore, limited to the southern portion of the eastern plateau in considering the capacity of Belvidere for Fever purposes. It has already been determined to erect seven new permanent pavilions on this space, which will bring up our accommodation to 330 beds. It has been suggested that three more pavilions should be placed upon the site of the garden, which would make 420 beds in all. The abolition of this garden, as being a source of un- remunerative expense, has been spoken of as one advantage of this fresh extension. I cannot set myself up as an authority upon such a question in hospital economicsj but I know that wherever in other institutions—for example, in comiection with the City Poor- house and Western Infirmary—a spare piece of ground can be had on which to cultivate vegetables, it has been found jirofitable to do so. Why ground at Belvidere cannot be profitably used for the same purpose I am imable to see. This, however, is a mere side issue. The real question is — Can a hospital of this size be efficiently managed? I fear that on the whole, it is a somewhat doubtful experiment, for so it must be called, as there is at present no infectious hospital with 420 permanent beds in this country. It must also be remembered that, having the Smallpox hospital so convenient to the Fever hospital, we shall be tempted, in the absence of Smallpox, to appropriate, under pressure, as we have done for three years, 120 of its beds. It is impossible to regard 540 Fever beds under one administration with equanimity, in view of the special circumstances of difficulty peculiar to infectious hospitals. Still further, if Scarlet Fever formed a large pro- portion of our patients—and that is the most likely disease to assume epidemic proportions, we might have 600 to 700 patients at one time. Of course this is a temptation ^vliich might be virtuously resisted—but, as the Income-tax is a facile, though admittedly an objectionable resource for a needy Chancellor of the Exchequer, so the easy solution of temporary difficulties held out by empty pavilions is a temptation to which we would be less likely to yield if those pavilions did not exist.