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Description of  Sickness in the Workhouse: Poor Law Medical Care in Provincial England, 1834-1914 (Rochester Studies in Medical History)

England's New Poor Law (1834) transformed medical care in ways that have long been overlooked, or denigrated, by historians. Sickness in the Workhouse challenges these assumptions through a close examination of two urban workhouses in the west midlands from the passage of the New Poor Law until the outbreak of World War I. By closely analyzing the day-to-day practice of workhouse doctors and nurses, author Alistair Ritch questions the idea thatmedical care was invariably of poor quality and brought little benefit to patients. Medical staff in the workhouses labored under severe restraints and grappled with the immense health issues facing their patients. Read more