Annual report : 1947 / St. George's Hospital.

  • St George's Hospital
Date:
1947
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Annual report : 1947 / St. George's Hospital. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/48 page 17
    ALMONER’S REPORT. Social Service The increased number of patients attending Department. during 1947 is reflected in increased work in all the Social Service Departments. It is interesting to note that comparatively few patients are really poor, for example, of the £1,924 spent on the supply of surgical appliances, £853 was paid by the patients themselves. The provision of Convalescent Treatment is easier as there are more Convalescent Homes open. Beds in Sanatoria are still inadequate in numbers, patients having to wait four to five months for admission. Fortunately patients with negative sputa are now accepted at Atkinson Morley Hospital. The Chest Clinic shows 78 patients regularly attending ; an increase of 43 on 1946. The British Red Cross Society Hospital Car Service has been of great help. The Hospital has paid out £86 17s. 3d. on this service, although a few patients have paid the cost themselves, and we are grateful to some drivers who make no charge. This service is apart from the provision of ambulances for the need of individual patients. During the past two years the numbers of both men and women patients registering in the V.D. Department have dropped by about 25 per cent. This may be due to post-war conditions or possibly to the fact that present methods of treatment considerably reduce the period of infectivity. Many of those who have attended need constant following by letters and by home visits, which are undertaken whenever possible. Over 1,200 letters were sent and 50 visits paid by the Almoner in 1947 as part of the campaign, but the personal interview on the first or second visit to the clinics often proves the most helpful method of getting satisfactory results.
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