The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1833-04-23 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL

The new Infirmary was opened in 1824, and it was supposed
capable of receiving all who would apply, but your report for
1825 shows an urgent necessity for farther enlargement, and
that for 1826 says, "in some instances the beds are doubly ten-
anted." In succeeding years similar complaints were repeated,
and at your last annual meeting, the erection of Lock Wards
was decided upon, with the view of diminishing, for the plan is
not sufficiently comprehensive to remove the evil.
On December 31st, 1825, there were 198 In Patients,
1826, 211
1827, 215
1828, 216
1829, . 217
1830, 220
April 18th, 1833, 218
In each year numbers were repeatedly refused admission for
want of room; and while the population, up to this time, has
increased above 40,000, there has been no material addition to
the capability of accommodation.
Although the new wards you have commenced building will
supply sixty beds, it must not be supposed that thereby all
cause of complaint will be removed. You are compelled to re-
fuse entrance to thirty or forty weekly, and the majority of
these must be persons who hal e not previously applied, there-
fore, on the first admission-day, one-half of your extended ac-
commodation will be occupied, and I have no doubt that, in
three weeks, you will not have a single vacant bed, excepting
those necessarily reserved for accidents.
It is surely a sufficient justification, to show that your Institu-
tion is not extensive enough for the town, and I might rest
the defence of our proceedings; upon the facts furnished by the
reports of your valuable Hospital, but I will go farther and
bring ample separate evidence to show how very seriously those
proceedings are called for.
The amount of unsuccessful applicants at your doors, is not
the full number who would apply were there a certainty of ad-
mission, and had Subscribers of one guinea t 4 power of recom.
mending patients. The acknowledged want of room deters
many from seeking admission; Subscribers, whose orders have
been useless, decline repeating them, and hundreds of paupers
know not where to obtain recommendations, while the distance
is a great obstacle to removal in numerous cases. The observa-
tions I made last year, when professional duty called me to the
lowest and most miserable dwellings, convinced me that pa-
tients for another Infirmary, equal in size to your own, can easily
be fimnd in Liverpool. Allusion has been made only to the pre-
sent population, which has increased above 40,000, the number
of patients you can receive being nearly the same, but we must
reflect that that population is extending most rapidly, and
amongst a class of individuals much in need of relief; and
should the commercial importance of Liverpool, be enhanced
by the anticipated open trade to India, &c. we shall have a still
greater addition to those who call for our deepest sympathy, and
by whose labours we exist.
No unprejudiced person can doubt for a moment, that a se-
cond Infirmary is requisite, and it is a question of important
consideration what locality is preferable. Such Institutions
being for the benefit of our labouring poor, we must see the
propriety of placing them in situations of easy access, and pre-
vent that loss of time which is of essential moment in cases of
accidents and acute diseases; little need, therefore, be said in
favour of the northern portion of the town, which is occupied
principally by working people, who se dwellings are continually
increasing in that direction. Some years since, I saw a person
who had been seriously injured near the Prince's Dock, re•
moved to the present Infirmary, and painful curiosity induced
me to ascertain the time occupied in remo val, when I found
the poor fellow's sufferings continued for fifty minutes before
relief was obtained. It is in the neighbourhood of the Docks
that accidents most frequently occur, and were there an Hospi-
tal in their vicinity, lengthened misery would be spared the
sufferer, and in many instances life saved.
I have asked, may not the old Infirmary be enlarged? Can_
not the Dispensary Medical-men provide for the rejected cases?
The first of these questions is dispo'sed of by your Committee
who, by the intended appointment of a Physician and Surgeon,
to the Lock wards, show that your present Medical-officers
have enough upon their hands; but, the objection of distance
from the scene of accidents, and residences of those who re-
quire relief, is a sufficient reply. As to the second question, a
moment's reflection must convince how impossible it is for
those Gentlemen to do justice to patients who have no one to
nurse and attend them, and are destitute of the warmth, food,
and clothing, their cases require. Besides, the districts of the
Dispensary are necessarily limited, and beyond those limits exists
a very crowded population.
I am told the " intended Hospital was suggested by friends
of the Dispensaries and some Medical-mess for party pur-
poses ;" hence another objection to it, which I may dismiss by
remarking, that such an objection can only arise from party
feeling. The Provisional Committee, and Committee of Man-
agement axe guided by feelings of too liberal a cast to sanction
a fear that even the slightest intention exists to injure your
Charity; they are too well satisfied of the'benefits that Charity
distributes, and are only anxious to extend those benefits more
profusely amongst a class of persons who, from circumstances,
are unable to receive relief from any other source than an
additional Infirmary, and were there any probability of injuring
yours, they would, at once, desist from the endeavour to estab-
lish
another. The Medical Gentlemen connected with the Dis-
pensaries, from their sphere of action, have excellent opportu-
nities for appreciating the want of a new Hospital which has
been long evident to them; in their name I may disclaim every
thing like a spirit of opposition, a feeling by which no one can
suppose I am actuated.
We rest our expectations of support entirely upon the strength
of our case, and goodness of our cause ; and w hen did your Com-
mittee make an appeal which was not liberally responded to?
The public kindness which has enabled you to erect your
splendid Hospital and Asylum, and which has at all times
amply released you from pecuniary difficulty, is not likely to
be withdrawn. Do the collections in our Churches, the pro-
ceeds of our Musical Festivals, the profits of a Bazaar for
your benefit, the numerous subscriptions, legacies, and bene-
factions you receive, give cause for apprehension that the
success of any other Institution will affect yours? Your fears
on this subject are groundless, and I believe that to skew the
necessity for a second Infirmary will stimulate the friends of
yours to greater exertions, and insure their more perfect
success.

We must be convinced that a place of reception for invalid
paupers is absolutely necessary in the northern portion of Liver-
pool, and I have attempted, by enumeration of facts, to remove
those objections I have heard advanced against its foundation.
We should not, however, overlook the benefit which will at
tend the power of immediately providing for inflammatory and
acute cases of disease, which frequently run their course in a
few days, even hours, cases in which one hour's delay is of
vital importance, and there are many such unable to obtain
relief, either from want of room in your Infirmary, or the im_
possibility of being conveyed so great a distance. The advan-
tages arising from an increase of Medical Schools, iu which
Students can study disease at the patients' bedside, must strike
every one as of material consequence to society._

In fine, viewing the subject in every possible light, the pro-
jectors of a Northern Hospital, if successful, and I cannot doubt
their success, will be public benefactors ; and so far from wish-
ing to divert the stream of charity from your invaluable insic;
tution, are only desirous of directing sources of benevolrn'sefu
yet unexplored, into an equally necessary, humane, :cr.iricse
rent
channel. With a due regard for economy, they
avoidin/
ing a commodious and well adapted Wildly,-