Report of the Committee of Visitors of the Lunatic Asylum for the City and County of Bristol, together with the reports of the medical superintendent & chaplain / Bristol Lunatic Asylum.

  • Bristol Lunatic Asylum.
Date:
1879
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Committee of Visitors of the Lunatic Asylum for the City and County of Bristol, together with the reports of the medical superintendent & chaplain / Bristol Lunatic Asylum. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    8/48 (page 10)
    Eighty -six Male and about an equal number of Female Patients attended service in the Chapel last Sunday. The room used for this purpose is far too small for the present numbers in the Asylum, and we must here repeat the recommendations of our colleagues at their visit last year as to erecting a detached Chapel. From 65 to 70 Patients of each sex attend the weekly and other entertainments, and from 40 to 50 are taken weekly, weather permitting, for exercise beyond the grounds. As regards useful employment the returns furnished to us indicate that 29 Men work cn the land, 3 as painters, 6 at other trades, 10 assist in the kitchen, &c., and 32 help in the work of the Wards ; while 58 Women engage in needlework, 23 work in the laundry, 5 in the kitchen, &c., and 24 assist the Attendants in the care of their Wards. The present charges for the maintenance of Patients are : —Out County Unions, 14s. ; Unions within the city, 12s. ; and for private Patients, 16s. to 20s. per week. The staff of Attendants is not numerically strong. It consists of 12 in the Male division and 14 in the Female. The rates of wages remain the same as mentioned in last year’s entry, except that an increase of £5 per annum has been allowed to the Charge Attendants in the new wings. blot much in the way of structural alteration has been done, but we are glad to report that many of the suggestions made last year have been adopted. We have already noticed what has been done to render the Wards more attractive. Pefore concluding this entry we desire to refer again to the inadequacy of the Chapel accommodation, and to call the attention of the Committee to one or two other matters The dining-hall is very insufficient for the wants of the Asylum. Wbre a new detached Chapel erected the present