HH62/1/DUNBAR/43

Transcription

[Page] 42

HOSPITAL ACCOMMODATION.

This question has occupied much time during the year. It
may be accepted as one of the essentials of sanitary administration
that there should be within reach of every village within the
District of a Local Authority some place in which a person suffering
from infectious disease can be isolated and treated. Unfor-
tunately, county Districts are not always suitable as hospital
districts, and very often the rural population in a District is not
large enough to require a hospital of such size as can be wrought
with economy and efficiency.
Western District. - The Fever hospitals at present existing in
the District are two. (1) Dunbarton hospital was erected about
eighteen years ago, in presence of an epidemic of smallpox. It is
a wooden structure in the outskirts of the town of Dunbarton.
It was intended for the use of the burgh of Dunbarton and the
parishes of Bonhill and Cardross. It is well situated, being built
on a rising ground sloping towards the south, and sheltered from
the north wind. The soil is light and porous. An objection, largely
sentimental, but also perhaps to a certain extent real, is that it is
close to the cemetery. But the main defects are the slim character
of the building, and the insufficiency of accommodation. The walls
are decaying in parts, and in cold weather it is difficult or impos-
sible to maintain a proper temperature. On my first visit the
temperature in two of the wards, which were heated by stoves,
was 47º and 52º F. respectively.* There are two principal wards
and two smaller wards. Each of the former has a cubic space
of about 9000 feet, and is intended for eight patients. The
latter have each about 1250 cubic feet, and are intended for two
patients. In all the wards the cubic space per head is too small
to fulfil modern requirements. In one of the main wards there is
cross-ventilation by windows, but the other is divided into two
lengthwise by a partition reaching to the ceiling. The water-
closets are not of a good type, and the soil pipes are not ventilated.
The administrative accommodation - for the washing and disinfect-
ing of clothing, bedding, &c., and for other purposes - is quite
inadequate. But such as it is, the hospital has been simply
invaluable during the past year on account of the prevalence of
typhus fever.

*An additional stove is about to be put in.

[Page] 43

(2) Helensburgh Fever Hospital is intended for the use of the
town of Helensburgh and the parish of Row. It consists of the
upper flat of a two-storey stone building, of which the lower flat is
used as an hospital for non-infectious cases. It is well situated at
Craigendoran, and has two main wards, each of which has been
subdivided lengthwise into two, for the separation of the sexes.
One of these subdivisions, intended for 4 patients, has a cubic
space of about 3200 feet, so giving each case only 800 cubic feet.
There is no proper disinfecting apparatus.
The District requires, conjointly with the burgh of Dunbarton,
a large, well built, and properly equipped modern hospital in the
neighbourhood of Dunbarton. The parishes which might con-
veniently be served by it are Dunbarton, Cardross, Bonhill, Kil-
maronock, and at least the lower half of Luss. If it were so
arranged, cases from West Kilpatrick could also be received. The
total population which might be accommodated by this hospital
would be about as follows:-
Dunbarton, burgh, -- 16,908
Dunbarton, parish, -- 928
Bonhill, -- 14,372
Kilmaronock, -- 900
Luss, part of, say, -- 400
West Kilpatrick (in the Eastern District), -- 7,717
[Total] -- 41,225

For this population the hospital should have 40 beds, and
the cost would probably be not less than £6000. In addition the
hospital ground should contain, removed as far as possible from the
main building, a wooden pavilion which might be used as a recep-
tion house for quarantined persons, or for smallpox. The amount
of ground needed might be four or five acres. I have examined and
reported on two suitable sites, one on the Bonhill Road, and the
other between the Renton and Helensburgh Roads, and the matter
is at present in charge of a committee.
The parish of Rosneath presents a difficulty as to hospital
arrangements. To Helensburgh hospital the distance by the ferry
is not great, but the ferry could not be used for patients. By the
road the distance from the south end of the parish, going by
Garelochhead, is about 15 miles. Of course the road is very good