§ 70. Mr. WILLIAM THORNEasked the President of the Local Government Board whether, in view of the percentage of failures to diagnose small-pox correctly, as shown by the returns of the Metropolitan Asylums Board in London, he will consider the advisability of giving instructions for photographs to be taken of any case of illness involving eruptions on the skin for study by experts, and thus diminish the present risks of the spread of serious diseases through mistaken diagnoses.
§ The PRESIDENT of the LOCAL GOVERNMENT BOARD (Mr. Burns)It would not, I think, be practicable to require that all persons suffering from illness involving eruptions on the skin should be photographed and the photographs studied by experts, but I understand that 558 medical works have already been published in which the problem is approached from the point of view suggested.
§ 71. Mr. CROOKSasked the President of the Local Government Board whether patients suffering from measles, whooping-cough, or puerperal fever in London, who are recommended for admission by the medical officer of health as being incapable of isolation at home, are admitted to the Metropolitan Asylums Board hospitals without charge and without any payment being permitted on behalf of any such patient; whether patients suffering from these diseases, under exactly similar home circumstances, who are recommended for admission by the relieving officer or district medical officer as being incapable of isolation at home, are made the subject of a charge which the board of guardians attempts to collect from the parent or husband of the patient; will he state the ground of distinction between the two classes of cases and the justification for admitting the one set of patients without charge whilst exacting a payment from the other set of patients for exactly the same hospital accommodation, in the same wards, paid for by one and the same rate; and whether, in the interests of the public health and to prevent the hardships now being caused to many very poor people, he will put cases of measles, etc., on the same footing as cases of scarlet fever, making no charge whenever removal to hospital is recommended because of the lack of facilities for isolation?
§ Mr. BURNSAll persons treated in the hospitals of the Metropolitan Asylums Board are admitted without charge, and the cost of their maintenance therein is paid out of the Metropolitan Common Poor Fund. I am not aware that it is the general practice of boards of guardians to recover any portion of this cost from relatives of persons sent to these hospitals in the circumstances mentioned, but, if my hon. Friend will furnish me with particulars of any such cases, I shall be happy to make further inquiries in the matter.