Forty-ninth annual report of the Committee of Visitors of the County and City of Worcester Lunatic Asylum for the year 1901.

  • County and City of Worcester Lunatic Asylum
Date:
1902
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Forty-ninth annual report of the Committee of Visitors of the County and City of Worcester Lunatic Asylum for the year 1901. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    tained a fractured rib. Two were cases of fractured hip, one was a fractured lower jaw through falling m a fit, one forearm, one leg, one finger, one arm ] this latter was caused in ai struggle with the Nurses, one of whom the' patient, a criminal, had suddenly and violently attacked with murderous intent. Escapes.—Three male patients effected their escape. All were recaptured in a few hours. Health.—Two male patients were attacked with Chicken- pox, the origin of which could not be traced. One male patient developed Typhoid Fever, from which he made a good recovery. The source of his infection is unknown. Colitis is still causing a good deal of trouble, now waning and then bursting out with renewed vigour. Various methods of treatment, much recom¬ mended in other Asylums, have been tried, but so far without satisfactory results. The idea, put forward by the Commis¬ sioners in Lunacy, that infection is distributed by means of vegetables which have been watered with liquid sewage, does not appear to me to be tenable owing to the somewhat local distribution of the outbreaks. The nursing of the insane is the topic of the hour among Asylum Medical Officers, I think we are destined to see great and radical changes in this part of the work. The desire is to bring Asylum nursing into line with General Hospital Nursing. This would necessitate an increased Staff, especially by night. It is proposed to undertake the care of the Male Hospital Wards with Trained Nurses. The matter is as yet in a tentative stage. It has been chiefly tried in Scotland, and its advocates are loud in their praise. I think we ought to be able to show that the increased cost would give an increased recovery rate before we make such wide and sweeping changes. Staff.—In October last Mr. Wilkinson resigned the post of Second Assistant Medical Officer. Dr. Veitch was promoted to the vacant post. At the end of the year the post of Third Assistant Medical Officer was still vacant. This entailed extra work on the Medical Officers, which they have cheer¬ fully undertaken. A Lady Doctor could easily have been pro¬ cured, but your Committee decided that only a man should be eligible for the post, a decision with which I heartily concur.