[Report 1947] / Medical Officer of Health, Glasgow.

  • Glasgow (Scotland)
Date:
1947
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1947] / Medical Officer of Health, Glasgow. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    ferred to other institutions or boarded-out in private dwellings, and three boys and six girls died. Miss Young, Superintendent, reports as follows The general health of the patients and staff has been good throughout the year. Difficulty in maintaining an adequate staff has continued. Psychiatric Units in the General Hospitals. During the year the number of admissions to the psychiatric units of the general hospitals was 1,142, and the total number of cases treated was 1,595. These figures compare with 1,304 and 1,710 respectively for the previous year. The decrease in the number of admissions was due almost entirely to the difficulty of obtaining beds in the mental hospitals for patients who should have been removed there. Of the 1,595 cases treated in the general hospitals, 822 (51 per cent.) were sufficiently recovered to be sent home or, where they had no home, to an institution under the Welfare Department ; 153 patients died (9-6 per cent.), the majority of whom were old people suffering from senile degeneration ; 166 (10 per cent.) were certified and trans- ferred to mental hospitals or certified institutions for further treatment. Overcrowding has continued to be very marked, particularly on the female side, where the demand for beds has been heavy. There is still a long waiting list for female patients. While awaiting admission these patients are supervised by District Medical Officers and Health Visitors. Dr. Ivy MacKenzie, Visiting Psychiatrist, Stobhill Hospital, reports :— “ So far as my own Observation Wards are concerned, the out- standing feature is the extent to which the beds are occupied by senile cases. This, of course, is not a matter for criticism, as anyone who is familiar with modern conditions and the lack of accommodation in the asylums must realise that it is impossible at present to use the Observation Wards for the purpose for which they were originally intended—that is for the care and treatment of persons who were likely to make a recovery and who, in this way, would be provided with the means of avoiding certification. This is made quite clear in the statistical outline, which shows that during the year only fifteen of 18a