HOSPITAL COSTS

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 65, Issue 205, 12 June 1945, Page 5

HOSPITAL COSTS

POSITION SATISFACTORY. MAINTENANCE A BIG ITEM. SECRETARY REPORTS TO BOARD. Taking into consideration the large increase in the number of patients treated and the high bed state, the position so far as expenditure at the Ashburton Public Hospital for the year ended March 31 last was concerned must be considered satisfactory, stated the annual report of the secretary (Mr J. H. Chapman) submitted to the Hospital Board to-day. During the year under review, maintenance expenditure increased by £2928, the main items being: Ashburton Hospital £2221, administration £354 and interest on loan £306. Expenditure in other branches showed little variation. Maintenance expenditure at the maternity ward was £lB4 less than the combined expenditure during 1943-44 at the maternity ward and the Malvern and Arawa hospitals combined. The number of patients treated was 1725, compared with 1462 the previous year, and the occupied bed state rose from 99.3 to 115.7.

The main items of expenditure were as follow, those for 1944.-45 being in parentheses: Maintenance £42,048 (£40,190), subsidies to lessees of hospitals £639, administration £IBO4 (£1450), payments to other boards £638 (£542), interest on loans £2850 (£2544). There was a balance of £11,719, compared with £13,367 the previous year. Indoor Expenditure. Accounting for the increase of £2221 at the Ashburton Hospital, the secretary said £2103 had gone on indoor expenditure and £llß had been spent on the outpatient department. Salaries and wages were up by £2758 and provisions by £IOO2. There were, however, several decreases under other headings. Costs per occupied bed dropped from £326 to £298, or, on a daily basis, from 17s lOd to 16s 4d. The average cost of provisions per occupied bed remained at £6l Is. Expenditure in the surgery and dispensary fell by £.315, and the average cost per occupied bed in this section dropped from £29 Is to £22 2s, although the average cost per patient was slightly higher than (he average for New Zealand. After the new wards and the new nurses’ home were equipped, the cost of replacements and renovations slackened markedly, resulting., in an allround decrease of £971. Expenditure at the laundry increased £545, but with the increases in pieces washed from 526,218 to 618,110 the average cost per dozen pieces rose only a penny. Wages were higher by £324. High costs in the laundry would continue till new equipment was installed. Fuel costs increased £377 and electricity costs decreased £142. The position so far as coal was concerned was aggravated by an increased price of up to 3s 6d a ton. Consumption increased 256 tons. Salaries and Wages. Salaries and wages were stated to have increased during the last five years more than any other item, but the average cost per occupied bed — £152, against £149 last year —was still below the New Zealand average of £lB3. Expenditure at the nurses’ home was £5840, and the average number of- nurses at the home was 70. The average cost of hoard and lodging at the home was £B3l a year, or £1 Is lid a week. The main items of income were fees £26,077, levies on local authorities £12,025, and subsidies from the Government £9449, the respective percentages of the total being 54.8, 25.3 and 19.9. Fees increased £1548 and cash collected decreased £1593. The balance-sheet showed that assets exceeded liabilities by £11,719. On the liabilities side the main items were: Sundry creditors £1094, interest £936, bequests and special funds £7403, loans £83,200, and capital account £117,146. On the assets side were: Cash in hand and at bank £11,771, stores £7755, sundry debtors £3852, land, buildings, equipment and institutional property £173,084, and contribution to capital expenditure at Waipiata Sanatorium £22,828.