ABSTRACT
The provision of a modern and extensive hospital infrastructure, as seen in Leeds and Sheffield in the first half of the twentieth century, was intimately intertwined with the growth and transformation of the patient population. Hospital Saturday was widespread across the country by the First World War, though it was still seen as part of the charitable income of the institutions rather than as indirect payments. Yet Gosling's overview of the profession argues that almoners were in fact the key to the reciprocal economics of the interwar voluntary system in which patients increasingly recognized their responsibility to contribute what they could in return for modern, disinterested hospital treatment. But socio-economic factors also had an impact on the mix of services offered and the growth of hospital specialization. Moreover, mutualist funds like the Leeds Workpeople's Hospital Fund (LWHF) acted in the interests of their members by supporting a range of health services including convalescent homes, ambulance services and district nurses.
