HC Deb 31 January 1951 vol 483 cc123-4W
Mr. P. Wells

asked the Minister of Health (1) whether the nurses who volunteered to nurse at Bevendean Hospital during the smallpox outbreak at Brighton were vaccinated before they took up their duties;

(2) on what date the staff of nurses, domestic workers and others employed at Bevendean Hospital were vaccinated after the discovery of smallpox in the hospital;

(3) how far the patients in Bevendean Hospital at the time of the discovery of smallpox in the hospital were sent home or to another hospital.

Mr. Marquand

No patients were sent home, but two who developed smallpox were sent to another hospital. The presence of smallpox in Bevendean was confirmed on 28th December, and all staff employed there were vaccinated on that day or the next, except nine who were on leave and who were vaccinated on the 30th.

Mr. Viant

asked the Minister of Health (1) whether he is aware that the removal of sufferers from smallpox from Bevendean Hospital to Dartford in very severe weather with conditions of snow and ice increased the risk of a fatal result; and what precautions will be taken to safeguard smallpox patients from such risk;

(2) which smallpox patients were nursed at Bevendean Infectious Diseases Hospital; why they were not sent to one of the other two isolation hospitals set apart for smallpox cases; were there patients suffering from other infectious diseases in Bevendean Hospital at the same time that smallpox cases were nursed there after the outbreak was discovered; were all the patients and staff at Bevendean Hospital vaccinated as soon as smallpox was discovered there on 28th December; and on what dates were the patients and staff at this hospital vaccinated.

Mr. Marquand

Four persons suffering from smallpox were nursed at Bevendean. Two were transferred as soon as diagnosis was made, two died before this was possible. Patients suffering from other infectious diseases were nursed there when the outbreak occurred; all were vaccinated on the 28th or 29th, together with the staff, apart from nine staff on leave who were vaccinated on the 30th. There is no evidence that removal to Dartford caused any ill effects, but when the weather deteriorated a local hospital was also brought into use to avoid the longer journey.