About £5,000 more has been sent in hundreds and fifties, and doubtless many other large gifts will follow.
The Queens Hospital was commenced in 1840, the first stone being laid by Earl Howe on the 18th of June. His Royal Highness the Prince Consort was chosen as first president, and remained so until his death, the office not being filled up again until 1875, when Lord Leigh was appointed. Many special efforts have been made to increase the funds of this hospital, and with great success; thus, on Dec. 28, 1848, Jenny Lind sang for it, the receipts amounting to £1,070. On July 27, 1857, a fête at Aston Park added £2,527 6s. 2d. (a like sum being given to the General Hospital). In 1859, Mr. Sands Cox (to whom is due the merit of originating the Queen's Hospital), commenced the arduous task of collecting a million postage stamps, equivalent to £4,166 13s. 4d., to clear the then liabilities, to erect a chapel, and for purposes of extension. Her Majesty the Queen forwarded (Feb. 15, 1859) a cheque for £100 toward this fund. On January 16, 1869, the workmen of the town decided to erect a new wing to the Hospital, and subscribed so freely that Lord Leigh laid the foundation stone Dec. 4, 1871, and the "Workmen's Extension" was opened for patients Nov. 7, 1873. In 1880 a bazaar at the Town Hall brought in £3,687 17s., increased by donations and new subscriptions to £5,969. The system of admission by subscribers' tickets was done away with Nov. 1, 1875, a registration fee of 1s. being adopted instead. This fee, however, is not required in urgent cases or accident, nor when the patient is believed to be too poor to pay it. The ordinary income for the year 1882 was £5,580, as compared with £4,834 in the previous year, when the ordinary income was supplemented by the further sum of £4,356 from the Hospital Sunday collection, which falls to the Queen's Hospital once in three years. The chief items of ordinary income were, subscriptions 1881, £2,780; 1882, £2,788; donations, 1881, £397; 1882, £237; Hospital Saturday, 1881, £711; 1882, £852; legacies, 1881, £208; 1882, £870; dividends, 1881, £178; 1882, £199; registration fees, 1881, £538; 1882, £597. The expenditure for the year was £7,264, as compared with £6,997 in 1881. The number of in-patients in 1882 was 1,669, as compared with 1,663 in 1881; the number of out-patients was 16,538, as compared with 14,490 in the preceding year. The cost of each in-patient was £3 2s. 3-1/4d. Of the in-patients, 811 were admitted by registration, the remainder being treated as accidents or urgent cases. Of the out-patients, 8,359 were admitted by registration, the remainder, namely, 8,179, were admitted free.
The Children's Hospital, founded in 1861, was first opened for the reception of patients Jan. 1, 1862, in the old mansion in Steelhouse Lane, fronting the Upper Priory. At the commencement of 1870 the Hospital was removed to Broad Street, to the building formerly known as the Lying-in Hospital, an out-patient department, specially erected at a cost of about £3,250, being opened at the same time (January) in Steelhouse Lane, nearly opposite the mansion first used. The Broad Street institution has accommodation for about fifty children in addition to a separate building containing thirty beds for the reception of fever cases, the erection of which cost £7,800; and there is a Convalescent Home at Alvechurch in connection with this Hospital to which children are sent direct from the wards of the Hospital (frequently after surgical operations) thus obtaining for them a more perfect convalescence than is possible when they are returned to their own homes, where in too many instances those important aids to recovery —pure air, cleanliness, and good food are sadly wanting. In addition to the share of the Saturday and Sunday yearly collections, a special effort was made in 1880 to assist the Children's Hospital by a simultaneous collection in the Sunday Schools of the town and neighbourhood, and, like the others, this has become a periodical institution. In 1880, the sum thus gathered from the juveniles for the benefit of their little suffering brethren, amounted to £307 9s. 11d.; in 1881, it was £193 10s. 5d.; in 1882, £218 5s. 2d.; in 1883, £234 3s. 1d. The number of patients during 1883 were: 743 in-patients 12,695 out-patients, 75 home patients, and 475 casualties—total 13,998. The expenditure of the year had been £4,399 0s. 3d., and the income but £4,087 14s. 2d.
Dental.—This Hospital, 9, Broad Street, was instituted for gratuitous assistance to the poor in all cases of diseases of the teeth, including extracting, stopping, scaling, as well as the regulation of children's teeth. Any poor sufferer can have immediate attention without a recommendatory note, but applicants requiring special operations must be provided with a note of introduction from a governor. About 6,000 persons yearly take their achers to the establishment.
Ear and Throat Infirmary, founded in 1844, and formerly in Cherry Street, has been removed to Newhall Street, where persons suffering from diseases of the ear (deafness, &c.) and throat, are attended to daily at noon. During the year ending June, 1883, 6,517 patients had been under treatment, and 1,833 new cases had been admitted. Of the total, 1,389 had been cured, 348 relieved and 116 remained under treatment. The increase of admissions over those of the previous year was 181, and the average daily attendance of patients was 25. The number of patients coming from places outside Birmingham was 577. The income of this institution is hardly up to the mark, considering its great usefulness, the amount received from yearly subscribers being only £129 13s. 6d., representing 711 tickets, there being received for 875 supplementary tickets, £153 2s. 6d., and £15 11s. from the Hospital Saturday collections.
The Eye Hospital was originated in 1823, and the first patients were received in April, 1824, at the hospital in Cannon Street. Some thirty years afterwards the institution was removed to Steelhouse Lane, and in 1862 to Temple Row, Dee's Royal Hotel being taken and remodelled for the purpose at a cost of about £8,300. In 1881 the number of patients treated was 12,523; in 1882, 13,448 of whom 768 were in-patients, making a total of over a quarter of a million since the commencement of the charity. Admission by subscriber's ticket. Originally an hotel, the building is dilapidated and very unsuitable to the requirements of the hospital, the space for attendants and patients being most inadequate. This has been more and more evident for years past, and the erection of a new building became an absolute necessity. The governors, therefore, have taken a plot of land at the corner of Edmund Street and Church Street, upon a lease from the Colmore family for 99 years, and hereon is being built a commodious and handsome new hospital, from carefully arranged plans suitable to the peculiar necessities of an institution of this nature. The estimated cost of the new building is put at £20,000, of which only about £8,000 has yet been subscribed (£5,000 of it being from a single donor). In such a town as Birmingham, and indeed in such a district as surrounds us, an institution like the Birmingham and Midland Eye Hospital is not only useful, but positively indispensable, and as there are no restrictions as to distance or place of abode in the matter of patients, the appeal made for the necessary building funds should meet with a quick and generous response, not only from a few large-hearted contributors, whose names are household words, but also from the many thousands who have knowledge directly or indirectly of the vast benefit this hospital has conferred upon those stricken by disease or accident—to that which is the most precious of all our senses. It is intended that the hospital should be a model to the whole kingdom of what such an institution ought to be; the latest and best of modern appliances, both sanitary and surgical, will be introduced. There will be in and out departments, completely isolated one from the other, though with a door of communication. From sixty to seventy beds will be provided, special wards for a certain class of cases, adequate waiting-rooms for out-patients, and the necessary rooms for the officers and medical attendants, all being on an ample scale.
Fever Hospital.—There was a Fever Hospital opened in March, 1828, but we have no note when it was closed, and possibly it may have been only a temporary institution, such as become necessary now and then even in these days of sanitary science. For some years past fever patients requiring isolation have been treated in the Borough Hospital, but the Health Committee have lately purchased a plot of land in Lodge Road of about 4-1/2 acres, at a cost of £4,500, and have erected there on a wooden pavilion, divided into male and female wards, with all necessary bath rooms, nurses' rooms, &c., everything being done which can contribute to the comfort and care of the inmates, while the greatest attention has been paid to the ventilation and other necessary items tending to their recovery. This pavilion is only a portion of the scheme which the committee propose to carry out, it being intended to build four, if not five, other wards of brick. A temporary block of administrative buildings has been erected at some distance from the pavilion. There accommodation is provided for the matron, the resident medical superintendent, the nurses when off duty, and the ordinary kitchen, scullery, and other offices are attached. When the permanent offices have been erected this building will be devoted to special fever cases, or, should there be a demand, private cases will be taken in. The cost of the whole scheme is estimated at £20,000, including the sum given for the land. It is most devoutly to be wished that this hospital, which is entirely free, will be generally used by families in case of a member thereof be taken with any nature of infectious fever, the most certain remedy against an epidemic of the kind, as well as the most favourable chance for the patient being such an isolation as is here provided. The hospital was opened September 11, 1883, and in cases of scarlet fever and other disorders of an infectious character, an immediate application should be made to the health officer at the Council House.
Homoeopathic.—A dispensary for the distribution of homoeopathic remedies was opened in this town in 1847, and though the new system met with the usual opposition, it has become fairly popular, and its practitioners have found friends sufficient to induce them to erect a very neat and convenient hospital, in Easy Row, at a cost of about £7,000, which was opened November 23rd, 1875, and may possibly soon be enlarged. A small payment, weekly, is looked for, if the patient can afford it, but a fair number are admitted free, and a much larger number visited, the average number of patients being nearly 5,000 per annum. Information given on enquiry.
Hospital for Women.—This establishment in the Upper Priory was opened in October, 1871, for the treatment of diseases special to females. No note or ticket of recommendation is required, applicants being attended to daily at two o'clock, except on Saturday and Sunday. If in a position to pay, a nominal sum of 2s. 6d. a month is expected as a contribution to the funds, which are not so flourishing as can be wished. The in-patients' department or home at Sparkhill has accommodation for 25 inmates, and it is always full, while some thousands are treated at the town establishment. The number of new cases in the out-patient department in 1883 was 2,648, showing an annual increase of nearly 250 a year. Of the 281 in-patients admitted last year, 205 had to undergo surgical operations of various kinds, 124 being serious cases; notwithstanding which the mortality showed a rate of only 5.6 per cent. As a rule many weeks and months of care and attention are needed to restore the general health of those who may have, while in the hospital, successfully recovered from an operation, but there has not hitherto been the needful funds or any organisation for following up such cases after they have left Sparkhill. Such a work could be carried on by a District Nursing Society if there were funds to defray the extra expense, and at their last annual meeting the Managing Committee decided to appeal to their friends for assistance towards forming an endowment fund for the treatment of patients at home during their convalescence, and also for aiding nurses during times of sickness. An anonymous donation of £1,000 has been sent in, and two other donors have given £500 each, but the treasurer will be glad to receive additions thereto, and as early as possible, for sick women nor sick men can wait long. The total income for 1883 amounted to £1,305 16s. 4d., while the expenditure was £1,685 4s. 11d., leaving a deficit much to be regretted.
Lying-in Hospital.—Founded in 1842, and for many years was located in Broad Street, in the mansion since formed into the Children's Hospital. In 1868 it was deemed advisable to close the establishment in favour of the present plan of supplying midwives and nurses at the poor patients' homes. In 1880 the number of patients attended was 1,020; in 1881, 973; in 1882, 894; in 1883, 870. In each of the two latter years there had been two deaths in mothers (1 in 441 cases) about the usual average of charity. The number of children born alive during the last year was 839, of whom 419 were males, and 420 females. Four infants died; 37 were still-born. There were 6 cases of twins. The assistance of the honorary surgeons was called in 24 times, or once in 37 cases. The financial position of the charity is less satisfactory than could be wished, there being again a deficiency. The subscriptions were £273, against £269 in 1882 and £275 in 1881. There was a slight increase in the amount of donations, but an entire absence of legacies, which, considering the valuable assistance rendered by the charity to so many poor women, is greatly to be deplored. The medical board have the power to grant to any woman who passes the examination, the subjects of which are defined, a certificate as a skilled midwife, competent to attend natural labours. One midwife and four monthly nurses have already received certificates, and it is hoped that many more candidates will avail themselves of the opportunity thus readily afforded to them, and supply a want very generally felt among the poor of the town. Subscribers have the privilege of bestowing the tickets, and the offices are at 71, Newhall Street.