On This Day, 15 June 1918

Birmingham Daily Post 

Saturday 15 June 1918

CHILDREN’S HOSPITAL APPEAL WEEK.

TO RAISE £25,000.

The new Children’s Hospital erected in Ladywood Road as a Birmingham memorial to King Edward VII was partially occupied six months ago. Three wards are now in use, but the committee feel that until the whole sum required to meet the cost of the land, building, and equipment has been raised they would not be justified in opening farther wards. Towards the £92,000 which is the total cost there remains to be raised a sum of £25,000, and it is hoped to secure this amount by means of a “Children’s Hospital Appeal Week,” which begins to-morrow. Substantial donations have already been received or promised, and a list of these will be published in the “Birmingham Post” on Monday. The appeal is, however, to all classes, since it is recognised that the good work done by the hospital is such that it should command the support of all. During the last five years the annual average number of patients treated at the Children’s Hospital has been 12,921, and the number of operations performed 2,625. It should be remembered, too, that the treatment given is entirely free of expense to parents. The accommodation at the new hospital provides for 175 cots, as against 62 at the Broad Street institution. While special donations are necessary, there is need also for an increase in the amount of the annual subscriptions. The income of the hospital in 1917 was £6,746, but the increased cost of maintenance, drugs, &c., caused a big rise in the expenditure, which amounted to £8,542. A generous public probably requires little stimulus to induce a response to the needs of an institution whose work is so widely known, but Birmingham citizens may be reminded that since the hospital was founded in 1861 it has given free treatment to 816,000 children.