Report on the accommodation in St. Pancras workhouse / by Henry Bence Jones ; presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty.

  • Jones, Bence, 1814-1873.
Date:
1856
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report on the accommodation in St. Pancras workhouse / by Henry Bence Jones ; presented to both Houses of Parliament by command of Her Majesty. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    REPORT ON THE Accommodation in St. Pancras Workhouse 31, Lower Brook Street, 31st January 1856. My Lords and Gentlemen I find from the master’s statement that the average weekly number in the house for January 1856 is about 300 more than in 1846. During this period the new buildings and alterations have added about 150 beds. During the last six years I find an increase in the infirmary of 102 patients in the month of January ; that is, there are about one third more patients in the infirmary than in 1850. Within this time the space given to patients has only increased to the extent of 28 beds in the boys’ school. In the three principal wards of the men’s infir- mary there are now 121 cases with from 573 to 648 cubic feet per person. In the six principal women’s wards there are 152 cases, with from 612 to 656 cubic feet per person. The College of Surgeons have refused to recog- nize as medical schools two hospitals which gave less than 800 cubic feet to each patient, on the ground that less space, even with good ventilation, was injurious to the sick. As I consider that neither this standard nor any other can be correct, I shall proceed to my own observations, and the evidence I received as to the state of the infirmaries. a 2 TVk tlio Pnnv T TinnvrJ