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Original Text (Annotation: EAW001394 / 1375031)
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Long Reach Hospital, built in 1901 by the Metropolitan Asylum Board as a temporary, 300 bed, smallpox hospital; first patients 1902, repaired and made permanent in 1910. It was initially intended to last for two years, supplementing the smallpox hospital ships Atlas, Endymion and Castalia moored at Long Reach during an outbreak at the start of the Twentieth Century. The hospital was rebuilt again in 1928, during an outbreak of variola minor, the milder version of smallpox. Last patient admitted in 1973, hospital demolished in 1974. Initially patients were brought to the adjacent landing stage by Ambulance Ships ('Red Cross', 'White Cross', 'Geneva Cross', 'Albert Victor' and 'Maltese Cross') from London, these being phased out in favour of road transport during the early 1930s. See http://dartfordhospitalhistories.org.uk/long-reach/long-reach-introduction/ '
