Report of the Committee Appointed to Consider the Cubic Space of Metropolitan Workhouses: With Papers Submitted to the Committee (Classic Reprint) - Hardcover

Unknown Author

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0331652447 ISBN 13: 9780331652444

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

How space, air, and care shaped 19th-century workhouses

Discover the rules and observations that guided the design of hospital wards in metropolitan workhouses. This edition presents the committee’s findings on air quality, bed space, and the balance between safety and practicality.

The text surveys questions about how much floor and cubical space should be allotted per bed, how to ventilate crowded wards, and how to separate infectious cases from ordinary patients. It highlights the delicate trade‑offs between comfort, health, and available building stock, and it notes real‑world conditions in several workhouses, including wards, ventilation features, and staffing practices. The focus is practical: what space and routines were judged necessary to protect patients and staff, and what changes were proposed.

• Minimum air-space per bed: not less than 850 cubic feet for most sick inmates, with adjustments for high wards.
• Special wards for offensive cases requiring as much as 1,200 cubic feet per case to dilute contagious emissions.
• A requirement for a day-room in wards that mix day and night use, and a separate space for convalescents.
• Staffing reforms, including more paid nurses and standardized delivery of medicines and stimulants.

Ideal for readers interested in historical public health debates, hospital design, and social welfare policy.

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0331652447
• ISBN 13: 9780331652444
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 472