Annual report for the year 1904 (7th year of issue) / Metropolitan Asylums Board.

  • Metropolitan Asylums Board (London, England)
Date:
1905
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Annual report for the year 1904 (7th year of issue) / Metropolitan Asylums Board. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    32/410 page 6
    In our last annual report we mentioned that considerable attention infirmary had been given to the question respecting the lack o£ infirmary accommo- accommodation at the asylums. In the early part of the year under review, we were compelled to ask the Managers to assent to two of the ordinary blocks at both Caterham and Leavesden Asylums being converted into infirmaries, and to the erection at Tooting Bee Asylum of the two additional infirmary blocks which formed part of the original scheme for this institution. At the same time assent was also sought and given to the provision at Tooting Bee Asylum of two supplementary staff buildings, and a hall (to accommodate not fewer than 300 patients) for religious services and other purposes. The conversions at Caterham and Leavesden have necessitated slight alterations in the normal accommodation for patients. With a view to providing the old and infirm patients at Tooting Bee patients*at Asylum with food more appropriate to their needs, an entirely new Tooting Bee dietary scale, which was prepared by the medical superintendent, has Asylum. ]3een approved and come into operation. It was confidently antici¬ pated that the introduction of this scale would not only give greater satisfaction to the patients, but would have the effect of reducing clerical work, and at the same time lead to a considerable saving of expenditure on food. Shortly after the Local Government Board had tacitly assented to the revised policy of the Managers concerning the classification of imbeciles, we communicated to the Works Committee our suggestions with regard to the adaptation of the “ infants’ school ” section of this institution, and ultimately a tender for the requisite alterations was accepted by the Board, at the sum of =£15,730. Arrangements are in progress for opening this part of the asylum in the- spring of 1905. With a view to expediting its adaptation and the date of its availability, it has been arranged that it shall be used for a time for the accommo¬ dation of male imbeciles only. The adaptation of the “ boys’ school ” section will, we hope, shortly be com¬ menced. This section, it has been decided, is ultimately to be used for males, and the “infants’ school” section for females, and it is expected that the whole establishment will eventually furnish accommodation for about 1,280 patients— 430 in the smaller section for females, and 850 in the larger section for males. In view of the large number of patients which the institution will be capable- of receiving, we have felt justified in extending from 40 to 60 years the maximum limit of age for the admission of patients to Belmont Asylum. This has rendered it possible to transfer to Gore Barm (Temporary) Asylum from Darenth several additional unimprovable patients over 40 years of age, and also a few from Tooting Bee. Consequent upon the pressure on the Managers’ accommodation, it Use of part was decided in July to use a few of the blocks at the Upper Gore Farm Barm Hospital as a temporary asylum, until such time as Belmont Hospital as Asylum became available for occupation by patients, and the Local an Asylum. J , 1 J 1 Government Board having assented to the proposal, five blocks were prepared and have been so utilised since the middle of August. Most of the Belmont Asylum (formerly known as Brighton Road Schools, Sutton).
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