[Report 1945] / Medical Officer of Health, Hastings County Borough.

  • Hastings (England). County Borough Council.
Date:
1945
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1945] / Medical Officer of Health, Hastings County Borough. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    -9 Owing to special war-time o,on tin gone ies, the accommodation at the Smallpox Hospital, Breda has been made available for cases throughout Sussex. The same arrangement applies to the Sedgebrook Smallpox Hospital, near Ghailey. . Total admissions to the Borough Sanatorium in 1945 were 195, including 52 cases from the Rural District of Battle and the Borough of Rye, 27 cases from the Borough of Bexhill and 19 service cases, leaving 117 cases from Hastings. (Bee previous table which refers to notifiable diseases only). It was not necessary to open the Brede Smallpox Hospital- Before the war plans were practically complete for the erection of a cubicle block of 10 beds to meet the increased demands made by the acceptance of all fever cases from Bexhill, with a peace time population of 23,000. With the return of our population in Hastings and Bexhill, this plan should nov; receive definite priority, as our existing 70 beds will then serve a population of 120,000 to 130,000, considerably swollen during the summer season. Moreover, as previously stated, a cubicle block, capable of dealing with different infectious diseases, effects valuable economies in nursing and domestic staff, fuel, light, etc, further the present practice of admitting for special reasons cases of mild or ncn-notifiable infectious diseases, cases of mumps, chicken pox or german measles, particularly from boarding schools or from hotels ana boarding houses in the season would be materially assisted, , Towards the end of 1945, the shortage of nursing staff became an increasing difficulty. .Fortunately the incidence of infectious disease in Hastings and District has been consistently lew for some years, and there has been an absence of epidemic disease requiring hospital accommodation. As matters stand now, it lias been possible to reduce substantially the number of available beds, without the necessity of refusing the cases usually admitted. In J:ne event of an outbreak or epidemic requiring the use of tho whole hospital, additional nursing staff would require to be imported. The Borough Sanatorium remains available, if necessary, along with the Municipal Hospital, to carry out the work of the Public Cleansing and Disinfecting Centre at Rock-a-nore which was requisitioned for special reasons during the war. The service has been carried out efficiently, but with some difficulties owing to the limited capacity for disinfectken and shortage of staff. High priority should be given to the replacement of the old Disinfecting Station by a modern establishment, which, as emphasised in previous reports, would most conveniently and economically be sited in or adjoining the Borough Sanatorium grounds. Vaccination Return, 1944. Births ... ' o'., 794' Successful Primary Vaccinations ... 389 Conscientious Objectors ... 301 Percentage of births vaccinated ... 49 The percentage M ch fldren now being vaccinated has risen substantially during the war by about 30 per cent.