The workhouse and its medical officer / by Alfred Sheen.

  • Sheen, Alfred.
Date:
1890
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The workhouse and its medical officer / by Alfred Sheen. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    sick, or a separate Hospital. With a large number of sick inmates, and only one Medical Officer to attend to them, it is absolutely necessary that some routine system should be adopted. Every case on the Medical Relief Book should be seen at least once a week. In a workhouse with 200 to 300 sick and infirm on the medical relief book, it is a good plan to divide them up into batches, and visit one set one day, another set another day, and so on. The acute cases should be visited daily, or as often as may be necessary. Female venereal cases should be personally examined once a week. A good Head Nurse will always direct the attention of the Medical Officer to such cases as require it out of the ordinary course. In all workhouses with a considerable number of sick, especially where there is a separate hospital, there should be a Resident House Surgeon, in addition to the Medical Officer, such House Surgeon acting entirely under the directions of the Medical Officer, who should alone be held responsible to the Board of Guardians. He should hold office for twelve months, and for an additional six months at the option of the Board of Guardians and on the recommendation of the Medical Officer. In some of our largest workhouses there are now several House Surgeons. With the large field for clinical experience which our workhouse hospitals present, there would be no difficulty in securing the services, at moderate salaries, of