An introductory address on the future of St. Thomas's Hospital : delivered at the hospital in the Surrey Gardens on the occasion of the opening of the session of its Medical and Surgical College, October 1st, 1862 / John Syer Bristowe.

  • Bristowe, John Syer, 1827-1895.
Date:
1862
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: An introductory address on the future of St. Thomas's Hospital : delivered at the hospital in the Surrey Gardens on the occasion of the opening of the session of its Medical and Surgical College, October 1st, 1862 / John Syer Bristowe. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Hospital is, at the present time, and from a broader point of view than that merely of the Medical School, the most serious and momentous question with which the Governors have to deal; it is a question to which everyone connected with the Institution has probably devoted at least some thought, and on which he has formed some kind of opinion; it is a question too, as it seems to me, in reference to which it is scarcely possible that selfish or personal considerations can actuate, in the adoption of views, or in the expression of them, any body of men (I do not say individuals), whether they be the Governors on the one hand, or the Medical Officers on the other, whether they be delegated by the public to act as their trustees, or whether they be appointed by the Governors to carry out the objects of the charity; and yet, unfortunately, it is a question on which, be¬ tween those who should have acted in concert, differences of opinion have arisen; and, I fear, not differences of opinion only. It is a fact, which it would be mere affectation to disguise, that not merely on the present occasion, but for some years back at least, there has not been, between the Medical Officers and the Governors, that cordiality which there ought to be, and which is so conducive to the harmo¬ nious, and efficient wTorkiug of an institution of this kind. I am myself less surprised that differences should exist between them, than that there should be cordial co-operation. When the Governors have tried to obtain the opinions of the medical men on points of import¬ ance, and have seemed to obtain from them opinions at variance with one another, or opinions which have been subsequently repu¬ diated, it is not very strange that the Governors should come to re¬ gard those, whom they assume to have given them, as capricious and impracticable. When, on the other hand, men have devoted, for years, their best energies to the practical duties of a Hospital, and have consequently been led to form strong opinions on questions of importance, upon which Governors are called to decide, it cannot be cause for surprise that their trust in the Governors should be shaken, when they find their opinions at one time ignored, at an¬ other time misunderstood and misapplied. The truth is that the re¬ lationship between them is not of a nature to conduce to mutual confidence and appreciation. Individual Governors and individual Medical Officers know one another, and sentiments of personal esteem and good-will exist between them. But the Governors as a body, and the Medical Officers as a body, do not know one another. They are rarely brought into contact; and, even then, the manner of com-