Second report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords on Metropolitan Hospitals, &c. : together with the Proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence, and appendix / Ordered, by the House of Commons, to be printed, 5 August 1891.
- House of Lords
- Date:
- 1891
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Second report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords on Metropolitan Hospitals, &c. : together with the Proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence, and appendix / Ordered, by the House of Commons, to be printed, 5 August 1891. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
23/956 (page 5)
![26 January 1891.] Mr. Ltjshington. [ Continued. Chairman—continued been born, and so on. And the overseer, the foreman of the works, brings a detailed account of all the men, the plumber, the glazier, and so forth, who have been employed during the week, and the various works that have been accom- plished. 9797. Then, in addition to that., do the petty cash accounts come before you ; you have some petty cash accounts, I presume?—Yes, we have some petty cash accounts. 9798. Do those come before you once a week? —No, not so often as that. All the bills that have to be paid come before me on a Wednesday. 9799. To whom of the high officials do the petty cash accounts go in the first instance?—The petty cash accounts go to the accountant in the first instance. If you mean small sums such as 1 /. or 2 s., and so on, they are all looked at by him, and he brings them to me with the vouchers once a quarter, or something like that. 9800. There is a voucher for everything; every small detail ?—Yes. 9801. I hen, do I take it as your answer, that these petty cash accounts are only looked into once a month ?—Not so often as once a month; probably once in three months. 9802. And the vouchers go on accumulating during all that time ?—Yes. 9803. Do yon thini< that that is a good plan ?— The total amount of petty cash accounts, when I go through them, I think only averages about 60 /. 9804. Now, passing to another subject, the principal part of the income of Guy’s Hospital is derived from estates ?— Yes. 9805. What amount of estates have you ? — We have three large estates; one in Herefordshire, one in Lincolnshire, and one in Essex. The Herefordshire estate is about 10,000 acres, the Lincolnshire about 9,000 acres, and I think the Essex estate about 9,000 acres ; and then we have an estate in Southwark, consisting of warehouses round about the hospital, which produces about 7,000/. a year. These four properties used to give us about 50,000 /. a year gross ; but in conse- quence of the agricultural depression we have lost in Essex quite 40 per cent, of our rents. Our rents in Essex have dropped from 9,500 /. to 4,000 l.; and in Herefordshire and in Lincoln- shire they have dropped about 30 per cent.. ; between 25 and 30 per cent. 9806. Have you any farms on your hands now ? —At this minute we have about 1,400 acres of land in hand in Essex. 9807. You used, I understand you to say, to clear 50,000/. a year from these estates ? — That was the gross amount. 9808. Now you have a sum much less than that?—Yes; net, to spend on the hospital, very little over 26,000 l. 9809. Then how do you make up your deficit ? — We make up our deficit from two or three different sources. First of all, we realise a cer- tain income from our lady pupils ; we realise a certain income from our out-patients, and we realise a certain income from our in-patients ; and we further raised from the public 100,000/., and we take out of that 100,000 l. each year whatever may be sufficient to make up our income. 9810. But now, with all these different methods (24.) Chairman—continued. of procuring money, have you got all the beds full that there are in the hospital ?—No. 9811. Can you tell me, in round numbers, how many are vacant ?—We can take in 600 patients; we have beds for 600 patients, but, at this very minute we have about 427 or 428 actually in beds. 9812. Therefore you have about 150 beds vacant for want of funds?—I should rather say 100 beds vacant for want of funds ; we always like to keep an odd 50 unoccupied in case there should be any outbreak of cholera or dysentery, or any very serious accident on one of the rail- ways, as the result of' which we might have to take in a great number of people. So that though we have only 450 people in beds we practically have an establishment that would enable us to take in 500 on a pinch. I may say, therefore, that we are 100 beds short of what we could maintain if we had sufficient funds. 9813. You are 100 beds short for want of funds ?—Yes. 9814. That is in a very densely populated district, is it not!—Very much so. 9815. And is it not very short of hospital accommodation; you have only one other hospital in the neighbourhood, 1 think ?—We have no other hospital immediately near at hand. In the case of all these serious dock and wharf acci- dents, the nearest two hospitals are the Poplar Hospital and the Seamen’s Hospital at Green wich, each about four miles distant from Guy’s. 9816. Then the case is even stronger than I thought; you are the only hospital in that district?—The only one 9817- And yet for want of funds you are obliged to keep permanently vacant 100 beds?—Yes. 9818. Do you make a habit of appealing annu- ally, or three or four times a year, for money?— I think we almost do more than that. Whenever anybody gives us a present, say some 400 l. or 500/., or 1,000/., as we now and then get, I immediately put an advertisement into the news- papers headed by this 1,000 /., or 500 /. or 400 /., and invite further subscriptions. 9819. Losing the gift as a sort of decoy?— That is pretty well what I try to do. It brings the hospital before the notice of the public. 9820. In regard to tradesmen’s bills, who pays them? —I do, every one. 9821. Are they examined by any sub-com- mittee, or what is the course taken ?--That de- pends upon what department they are in. If they are in the medical store and drug department. Dr. Steele looks at them; they are signed by the head dispenser, examined by Dr. Steele, and submitted to myself; and he brings a book every week to me, showing me the quantities of drugs that should be ordered. I go through this list of drugs, and if it occurs to me that it would be advisable to apply for contracts for any one of those drugs, then I desire Dr. Steele to apply for contracts, consider the contracts afterwards, and accept whichever contract seems most advantageous to the hospital. 9822. Then the dispenser himself does not order the drugs ?—No ; he puts them down in a list. 9823. And you pass it?—I pass it. 9824. And you order the drugs, and you pay for them? — I order the drugs and I pay for them. 9825. But is there no committee appointed to a 3 take](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28040156_0025.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
