Annual report of the Board of Control to the Lord Chancellor : 1950.

Date:
1950
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Annual report of the Board of Control to the Lord Chancellor : 1950. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Diseases of the enteric group accounted for 2 deaths in an incidence of 13 cases. The number of patients affected by gastro-intestinal infections was 5-3 per thousand patients resident, and the death rate from the disease was less than one per ten thousand resident. In all infectious outbreaks where the laboratory or other facilities of the hospital have been inadequate, assistance has been given by the Medical Officer of Health and the Ministry of Health local laboratory service. There were 11,119 deaths in mental hospitals during the year, the death rate per cent of the average number resident being 7*82. This is 0*39 higher than the rate for the previous year which, hov/ever, related only to the former county and borough mental hospitals. Registered Hospitals, Licensed Houses, and Nursing Homes At the end of 1950 there were four hospitals registered by the Minister of Health for the reception of persons suffering from mental illness. During the year the number of licensed houses was reduced by six. The original premises of three which had been removed from London during the war under Defence Regulation 32AA were not available when that Regulation expired and the licences lapsed, while the licences of three others lapsed or were surrendered. There remained, therefore, thirteen houses licensed by the Minister and seventeen licensed by provincial justices. The number of nursing homes approved by the Minister of Health for the reception of voluntary and temporary patients increased to eleven. All these establishments were visited as required and were found to be generally satisfactory. Broadmoor Institution This Institution was regularly visited during the year. Like other hospitals and institutions in the Mental Health Service it suffers from shortage of nurses, while much needed improvements have had to be postponded owing to financial limitations. It continues nevertheless to be ably administered and to reflect credit on the medical, nursing, and other staff who have cheerfully and uncomplainingly borne the additional burdens they have been called upon to carry. Board of Control Dr. T. R. Forsythe, who became a Commissioner on the 1st June, 1939, resigned his appointment on the 15th September, 1950, on being appointed Consulting Psychiatrist to Mapperley Mental Hospital, Nottingham. Surgeon Captain J. F. M. Campbell, M.B., R.N., was appointed a temporary Commissioner in January, 1950, on retirement from the post of Medical Superintendent of the Royal Naval Hospital, Yarmouth. By Order of the Board, 32, Rutland Gate, Knightsbridge, London, S.W.7. June, 1951, (Signed) P. Barter, Chairman. (Signed) H. C. Bleakley, Secretary.