SHORT OF FUNDS.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 78, 3 April 1939, Page 10

SHORT OF FUNDS.

HOSPITALS' PROBLEM.

AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCE.

A SCARCITY OF NURSES,

"Every hospital in Australia is struggling w jth a financial problem " •said the Rev. W. C. Wood, former chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board, on his return by the Mariposa to-day frorn a visit to the Commonwealth. In Sydney. Melbourne and Adelaide he inspected condition? in numerous hospitals and discussed hospital administrationwith the heads of the institutions. "We are always about ,t">00() short "' one administrator had said to him. anl this generally summed up (he position The trouble was clue, he stated, to lack of assured finance and to the dependence of all the institutions on voluntary contributions. The grants received from the various State Covernments had no established basis and were never completely adequate. Therefore, those responsible for maintaining and increasing the services of the hospitals were always experiencing financial difficulties. Big Expansion In Progress. This aspect of hospital affairs had become more than ordinarily prominent recently, said Mr. Wood, owing to the demand for hospital expansion. In Melbourne a beginning had been made on a hospital which would be the finest if. Australia or New Zealand, and the fin-

ancing of a scheme of this magnitude, with accommodation for probably 1000 patients, was a big responsibility. The design had been prepared by a leading firm of Melbourne architects, and the work was expected to take three years to complete. At the same time, Melr bourne was undertaking other hospital schemes to keep pace with tlie growing needs of the city and its surrounding districts. Another problem being experienced in Australian hospitals, continued Mr. Wood, was a scarcity of girls for nursing. Aβ in New Zealand, there did not appear to be as keen a desire to enter nursing as existed a few years ago. The position was not yet regarded as serious, but it was apparent that there was a growing I desire among girls to be free from the discipline and restraint which was essential for the control of a large nursing staff. There was also greater scope for girls io-day in business and :; dther jfrd-j fessions, where the rewards offered were greater. The hospitals could scarcely be expected to compete with large trading concerns in salaries. Helping the Cripples. Australia's efforte for the benefit of crippled children were on similar lines [ to those now being followed in New Zealand, Mr. Wood stated, and he had seen nothing in Australia which could be compared with the Wilson Home for crippled children at' Takapuna. Both Sydney, and Melbourne possessed large hospitals for cripples, but their equipment revealed no outstanding recent development. They appeared to be pursuing orthodox methods of treatment.

A contrast which immediately attracted the attention of a New Zealander was the specialisation in Australian hospitals, he remarked in conclusion. There were no general hospitals of the recognised New Zealand type in the large cities. Instead there were specialist institution* for men, women and children, and for the treatment of particular diseases.