Report of the Committee of Visitors and of the medical superintendent of the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, for the year 1871.

  • West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum.
Date:
1872
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Committee of Visitors and of the medical superintendent of the West Riding Pauper Lunatic Asylum, for the year 1871. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Applications for admis¬ sion. Capacity of Asylum. Improve¬ ments. The Number of Patients resident on the 81st Dec., 1870, were Men . 696 Women . 778 Total . 1473 During the twelve months, therefore, the number of Patients has only increased by 14. This does not, however, indicate any diminution in the demand for accommodation in the Asylum, as during the same period 228 applications for admission have had to he refused in the first instance. Of the Lunatics on whose behalf these applications were made, 101 were subsequently admitted as vacancies occurred, leaving 127 who were excluded altogether from the benefits of the Asylum. It is anticipated that the inconvenience to which the Poor Law Authorities have been put, in providing for Lunatics who could not be received into the West Riding Asylum, and in sending them to other Asylums at great distances, will terminate during the present year with the opening of the South Yorkshire Asylum, which is now rapidly approaching completion. As the total capacity of the West Riding Asylum is for 1500 Patients, there are at present 18 vacancies oving to recent discharges. These will be filled up in the course of a few days. No increase to the Asylum has been made during the past year, but a number of alterations and improvements have been effected with the view of increasing the com¬ fort and promoting the health, of the inmates.