Report of Sub-Committee on Out-Patients.

  • Westminster Hospital. Sub-Committee on Out-Patients.
Date:
1873
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of Sub-Committee on Out-Patients. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    especially in the Physicians’ Department. From 120 to 140 per day is far beyond the number which can be properly attended to. From three to four hours would be required at the rate of two minutes for each patient; or dividing the number between two Medical Officers, not less than two Fours. 3. A considerable number of the applicants for Out¬ door relief, both Medical and Surgical, are not cases fitted to derive benefit from any treatment as Out-Patients, and therefore should not be received. Many require warm clothing, light and nourishing food, entire rest, and avoidance of exposure, . more than medicine. Such Patients are not to be benefited by the mere ordering of medicine un¬ accompanied by the other essential conditions. Many infantile cases also, with or without contagious disease, ought either to be In-Patients, or treated at home, as they might be, if on the books of a Provident Dispensary, or of the Poor Law Dispensary of their district. 3. The 'practice of other Hospitals, as also of Dispensaries. At Charing Cross Hospital there is no limitation of the number of new cases by any fixed rule; nor is there any scrutiny as to the circumstances of the patients, other than such as the attending Medical Officers may in their discretion exercise. The limited accommodation tends to curtail the total number attending any one day. The printed report of last year, shows the total number of Out-Patients treated to have been 15,928 and In- Patients 1,362, and of these combined, 13,313 were admitted without letters of recommendation; notwithstanding the rule that none but accidents or urgent cases shall be admitted without such letters. The number of new cases daily seen has not been accurately ascertained, but it is roughly estimated that 30 Out-Patients are seen every day except Sunday. The Staff employed in this service consists of three Assistant Physicians, and three Assistant Surgeons, besides a Physician for the treat¬ ment of diseases of the skin, and a Surgeon Dentist further assisted by a Resident Medical, Surgical, and Obstetrical Officer as at the Westminster. No salary is paid to the Assistant Physicians and Surgeons. In reference to the alleged abuse of Hospital Charity by Out-Patients, the annual report states that, “ The Council have had their attention called to the alleged abuse by Out-Patients of the Medical Charities of the Metropolis, with a view to ascertain if it would be desirable to make any alteration in the Out-Patients’ department of this Hospital. The subject was referred to the Medical Committee who reported, that after fully considering the matter, they were of opinion that the extent of abuse was not so great as had been supposed. The Committee, therefore, did not