Description
Book SynopsisA study of the development of the hospital as a economic, medical and voluntary institution in the second half of the nineteenth century.By the 1890s Victorians assumed that London's hospitals were facing an endemic financial crisis which was so severe that some feared the state might have to intervene to support an ailing voluntary system: charity both underpinnedLondon's hospitals and proved insufficient to meet the ever-increasing cost of care, despite the ability of those running the hospitals to pick the pockets of the benevolent.
Charity and the London Hospitals takes these themes to study the development of the hospital as an economic, medical, and voluntary institution in the second half of the nineteenth century. Drawing on a comparative study of hospital records, the author investigates how and why Victorians contributed to show that benevolence was rarely amenable to a single form or reason, moving on to argue that though it remained central to the hospitals'
raison d'être, philanthropy's contribution was modified at a financial and administrative level as hospitals shifted from being philanthropic to medical institutions. Why this process occurred and the impact of professionalisation and scientific medicine are also assessed, as are the debates surrounding hospitals and the state at the end of the nineteenth century. KEIR WADDINGTON is Professor of History at Cardiff University.
Trade ReviewFills an important gap... Instead of depicting the 'great' metropolitan establishments as heroic arenas for medical and surgical triumphs, the author allows us to see them as administratively contested and financially precarious establishments. * MEDICAL HISTORY *
A much needed and comprehensive study of hospital finance in the nineteenth century... sets the agenda for future work. * LONDON JOURNAL *
Table of ContentsIntroduction: philanthropy and the London hospitals The philanthropic imperative Paying for the sick poor Financial diversification: an explanation Charity and control: voluntarism and the management of the London hospitals Striving for influence: lay versus medical control State aid versus voluntarism Conclusion: 1898 and beyond
