The twenty-third annual report of the committee of visitors of the County Lunatic Asylum at Colney Hatch : January quarter session, 1874 / [Middlesex County Lunatic Asylum].

  • London (England). County Lunatic Asylum, Colney Hatch.
Date:
[1874]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The twenty-third annual report of the committee of visitors of the County Lunatic Asylum at Colney Hatch : January quarter session, 1874 / [Middlesex County Lunatic Asylum]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    a fair money allowance by way of commutation for their washing and lodging in the Asylum, a great boon would be conferred on the men, while several beds might be added to the accommodation for male Patients; they therefore offered the sum of 16s. a month to all the married men in addition to their wages, upon their giving up the lodging and wash¬ ing hitherto provided for them in the Asylum ; and out of 32 persons, 29 have gratefully accepted the offer. By this arrangement, additional accommodation will be afforded for 24 male Patients on the 1st of February next. While the comfort of the Male Attendants has thus been cared for, the interests of the Female Attendants have not been overlooked; for in the month of June last the Committee resolved to pay to such of the Nurses, who had extra responsibility ox more arduous duty, an additional monthly wage by way of gratuity, dependent on the Matron’s report as to the manner in which their duties had been carried out. This system appears to have afforded general satisfaction to the Nurses, and to have worked well for the interests of the Asylum : and it will become a matter of consideration with the Committee whether this mode of rewarding good service may not be advantageously extended. j The Committee have made several alterations in the system of night watching in the Female Department; and they feel satisfied that, with the regulations now in opera¬ tion in both departments, the night watching in the Asylum is very effective. Under the present arrangement, no Patient ought to be left unseen for a longer period than two hours in the Male department, and Qne hour in the Female : while in the Infirmaries the intervals are still less. Very few serious casualties have occurred in either de¬ partment ; but unhappily there have been two suicides during