With Every four hours, night and day, since war.was declared, nurses of Guy's Hospital have refilled hot-water bottles in 200 empty beds. Yet not a single patient has yet lain in any of the beds, says the "News Chronicle."
This routine is only a minor detail in the hospital's gigantic preparation for air raids. Time is a vital factor in bomb or gas injuries, and not a second will be wasted after the air raid siren goes.
As with every other London hospital, putting Guy's on a war footing has meant a complete reconstruction of local services and an extension of activities to a base with hundreds of new emergency buildings in the countryside 25 miles or more away.
Each member of the staff left in London has a special air raid post to which he reports when the warning is sounded.
Theatre in Cellar All gates will be shut to prevent the hospital being swamped with people, for it has been known as a safe and kindly sanctuary in the neighbourhood for generations.
Matron and deputy-superintendent will go to their underground air-raid offices and runners will take their messages to and fro if the telephone breaks down. Theatre Sister and her staff will report to the new emergency operating theatre built in a cellar.
Hurricane lamps, head-lamps, and even bicycle lamps are ready in case both the borough and the hospital lighting plants are put out of action. An air-conditioning plant will counteract the effects of overcrowding.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.