A code of statutes and rules for the government of the Infirmary for the counties of Newcastle upon Tyne, Durham, and Northumberland ; to which is prefixed, an account of the origin and present state of the Infirmary, and particularly of the plan lately adopted for its internal improvement and extension.

Infirmary for the Sick and Lame Poor of the Counties of Durham, Newcastle upon Tyne, and Northumberland

Date:: 1801

Credit: A code of statutes and rules for the government of the Infirmary for the counties of Newcastle upon Tyne, Durham, and Northumberland ; to which is prefixed, an account of the origin and present state of the Infirmary, and particularly of the plan lately adopted for its internal improvement and extension. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

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« that apertures be made through the walls into the gallery, oppoHle to the windows in each ward ; liav- <« ing doors turning on fwlvels, which may, if ntced'ary, «« be locked, to prevent the patients from IhuttiuV « them. ^ « As bedfteads conflru£led of wood are prolific ** fources for the propagation of vermin, and as ccra- *' plete cleanlinefs cannot be efFeded in Infirmaries *' where fuch furniture is ufed, the committee alfo pro- pofe to have all the bedfteads made of hammered iron, with joints, to turn up in the day time, and to ftand *' with their heads againft the v/all. Some of the iron ** bedfteads, in every Ward, to have a fcrew to raife or lower the back, for altering the pofition of patients when in a weak ftate. Having pointed out thefe Improvements, the commit- tee declare it to be their decided opinion, that the *' air can never be kept pure, if more than fifty pa- tients are admitted into the old building. Accom- *' modations will therefore be wanting for thirty-four in-patients, according to the prefent eftablifliment,' as well as feparate rooms for patients under dangerous *' difeafes, and after operations of magnitude, when per- feft guiei and pure air are fo eflential to recovery.'* To embrace thefe important objefls, and to place this charity on a footing with the moft approved Infirmaries, the committee propofe an extenfion of the building. In planning this extenfion It was the leading obje£l to effed complete ventilation both in the new and in the old .houfe. For this reafon the quadrangular form has been avoided, and the new building, inftead of being added as a wing correfpondent to the other, is to com- in the floor below, communicating with a similar tube, which terminates in a brick funnel, running parallel with the chimney, to the top of the building. In calm weather, or when the at- mosphere in any of the wards becomes tainted by particular dis- eases of the patients, it is proposed to fix a stove grate in every funnel in the garret, to accelerate the motion of the air, and carry oS contagious vapours. ,

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