A scheme for the provision of nursing homes at moderate prices for the middle classes, and for the relief of the financial difficulties of provincial hospitals : a paper read before the Bristol and Bath Branch of the British Medical Association / by J.R. Benson.

  • Benson, John Robinson, 1869?-1952.
Date:
1904
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: A scheme for the provision of nursing homes at moderate prices for the middle classes, and for the relief of the financial difficulties of provincial hospitals : a paper read before the Bristol and Bath Branch of the British Medical Association / by J.R. Benson. 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.

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    for a very wide range of usefulness. The question arises as to how can we reduce this cost price per bed sufficiently to make the Home of real use to those people most in need of it ? The only answer that can be given is that we must share the expenses of administration and upkeep generally with the existing charity Hospitals. In practically every town in the kingdom the story is the same. There is an urgent need for such a Nursing Home as is here suggested. The demands on the Hospitals are, and have for some time been, increasing out of all proportion to the increase of revenue. In nearly every case there are in these institutions vacant wards and beds which the charity is unable to use, and it is by putting these to pro- fitable use that we believe we can solve the problem satis- factorily to everyone concerned. I propose to-night to take the City of Bath as my example, and to illustrate my scheme by means of the figures of the Institution to whose hospitality we owe this place of meeting—namely, the Royal United Hospital of Bath. Here the suggested Home can be carried out all the more easily, as there are at least three small wards, making up from two to six beds each, which could be kept quite separate from the charity beds. Here, too, we have all the advantages of an experienced committee of manage- ment, a well-organised administration, an efficient nursing staff, and, in fact, everything tending to an economic and efficient working of the scheme. There need be no interference whatever with the present charity arrangements. The private Home would be quite distinct, although under the same management and regulations, except in one important particular, namely, that all registered medical men in the district must be allowed to continue their attendances upon their patients while in the Home. As it would be unfair to use the funds collected for charitable purposes to finance a commercial undertaking in competition with private enterprise, so also it would be