A GROWING BURDEN.

Stratford Evening Post, Volume XXXVII, Issue 25, 30 September 1913, Page 4

A GROWING BURDEN.

“The ever-increasing burden of the hospital levies” receives some attention in the' annual report of the In-spector-General of Hospitals, which was presented to Parliament on Friday. He recognises that the increase of expenditure on hospitals and charitable aid is occasioning some concern, and the following comparison of Hos pital and Charitable Aid expenditure for the past ten years shows that this “concern” is not without a considerable amount of justification :

The Dominion remarks that “the principal cause of the increase of hospital expenditure is no doubt to he found in the fact that there has been a large increase in the proportion of the population making use of our hospitals, and in the inevitable extension of their functions. They must be kept | up-to-date. New buildings must be

erected from time to time, and the latest'appliances for the treatment of disease must be obtained. It is no use to expect any appreciable diminution of expenditure of this sort, and if the pressure on the contributing bodies is to be relieved it must be by an increase in the amount received in the way of fees. No one would like to see the enforcement of any harsh measures to extort the last farthing from poor people who may use our hospitals, but the'full cost of maintenance should be insisted upon in the case of those patients who are in a position to pay it. This policy is strongly advocated by the InspecorGeneral, and it is so obviously reasonable that it is quite unnecessary to labor tho point.”

Total Cost per head of expenditure. population. £ s. d. 1903-4 243,000 5 10* 1904-5 259,616 6 1 1905-6 270,710 6 2 1906-7 288,808 6 41 1907-8 315,197 6 10 1908-9 359,941 7 71 1909-10 375,075 7 8 1910-11 416,381 8 4-1 1911-12 482,615 9 51 1912-13 500,443 9 6|