Sixth report from the Select Committee on Estimates : together with the minutes of evidence taken before sub-committee D and appendices, session 1956-1957: Running costs of hospitals.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Estimates
Date:
[1957]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sixth report from the Select Committee on Estimates : together with the minutes of evidence taken before sub-committee D and appendices, session 1956-1957: Running costs of hospitals. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    107/448 page 85
    26 February, 1957.] [Continued. part been considerably up-graded. In addition, there are some specialist hospitals, including the Nuffield Orthopaedic Centre at Oxford, three chest hospitals (one at Peppard, Oxon, and two in Northamptonshire) and several mental and mental deficiency hospitals with various associated premises. Public transport within the region is not uniformly good. Some parts of it, especially in the Northampton-Nene-Valley-Kettering area, are well served, but large areas are connected with their principal towns only by very infrequent bus services. Although the road links between the several towns in the region and the regional centre at Oxford are good, public transport connections are, on the whole, indifferent ; indeed in some cases they are non-existent. The only fast rail connec- tions are between Reading and Oxford. This inadequacy of public transport raises some special problems, especially in growing towns like Bletchley (already referred to) which has no hospital of its own and relies for the most part on hospitals 17 miles away in Aylesbury, and to a lesser extent on Northampton, which is even further away. It may be noted also that some parts of Berkshire and Buckingham- shire are to a large extent dormitories for London, with which they have excellent rail connections. Because of this many residents in these areas used to look to London for their hospital services, but they do so to a rapidly decreasing extent as the services within the region are developed. In order to give a more detailed picture of the region and its hospital services the following document is attached :— (i) a Commentary on the Annual Statistics by the Board’s Senior Administrative Medical Officer. * * * * * * * * NOTE ON THE STATISTICAL TABLES FOR THE YEAR 1955. BY THE SENIOR ADMINISTRATIVE MEDICAL OFFICER, OXFORD REGIONAL HOSPITAL BOARD. The volume of work throughout the area as a whole continues at a high level. The fall in the waiting list which was noticeable in the second half of the year 1954 has continued, though there are still large numbers of patients awaiting treatment. The number of new out-patients continues to be high, though there has been a fall from the peak of the second quarter of 1954. There has been little change in the number of staffed beds, and the discharges and deaths remain high. As will be seen from the report, there is room for improvement in the turnover interval at some hospitals. The pressure at Kettering General Hospital is still great. With a smal] decrease in the number of beds, the number of discharges and deaths rose by 10 per cent., having risen by 15 per cent. in the year 1954. The total volume of work as represented by discharges and deaths in some of the other hospitals has shown a slight fall. Attendances at casualty departments show a general increase. Not all the patients attending these departments are casualties. Patients who attend without a doctor’s letter are seen in the casualty department in the first instance. United Oxford Hospitals The work at this hospital is really the responsibility of the Board of Governors but, as the Board will know, we prepare the statistics for the Board of Governors and we are interested in the work which is undertaken, since although it is a teaching hospital it provides the only service for the City of Oxford and its surrounds. I have not been able to confirm that the U.O.H. does more work than any other hospital in the country but there can be few hospitals that have a higher turnover rate and pass more patients through their beds.
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