HOSPITAL COMMISSION REPORT.

Auckland Star, Volume XXXVI, Issue 8, 10 January 1905, Page 3

HOSPITAL COMMISSION REPORT.

3iSCU?SED BY THE BOARD. SUGGESTED ADJOURXMENT X EG ATI Vd_lX I__ QCESTTOX OF FEES. "■cry li-Qc progress wa.- made y esteris v -fternrsiwi by the Hospital and —;aritable Aid Board in the matter of rie—ing with tho report- of the Hospi- •_] C——i—3—v. Most, of tho time •*•—; spe—. — whr-r.her or not the report should he considered at that sjueetiw;. Tl—re were pressenr at tiie •ueejingt— -lohn McLeod (chairman), K. K. Davis. .-. (.. llrowu, G. J. rrfrxh-tid. A- linn 4 . W. !;. Hlaomfiseld. M C—rv I. iic-lh-r.i. M.H.K. A. K. Harris, ami" 1- •■- tegi-H. Iv ssuppnrtTi ng an amendment br MY gasrrits bo adjourn consideration of the ~—os*, as asgainst. a nmstion by rhe rfeurffi—i n«t tin deal with any poi_ts :'sn —n report aftersting the Senior Moddr_\ Ofßcw. Mr Rolfe.-d sugg 4 —ied tb_ut if the disriis—on was in TOtnnit.tee the w«-i — be very ratio-, shorten r le ir»_*end«ri that, it was r_*rleiss tta d"st—sjs — ■• crmstrtafcion of the jSoaTV '—• Lhat wtsis a ii_iter for legi.*- 4j_t„rti. Nta—_g couid be dono to the VuDt—CS UK" a.: 1 lestst six months, a* ft>e eouki not lie marie until nom— of March. M Btuve said beiOTe they could levy s<or he next year they must iiave an esti—£c of the amount require!. w_iroally no excuse tor old —embers <s___ie for delay, as they were fully accpi— with 'Ihe csmdltjso—; of the Hosita!. They must distci—s t-he ret,—l bo _sow wi_t money the Board woui require to levy from the local _od_>M B'ltor—iel«l srid ho cresired to =#c rII Tin_uy done away witih. a,nd the Boa- dian—* it_Lters fairly, with a ■newt- 4 making the Hospital what it. ahull be. Mr (iarla_l had tonw_ed on -xatorv cl—t he thought would be better ft _kmc. tiT it was hard to avoid r'nenoming thing- that should no_ be &_ed "PO" •'' ' u -'° time. j t vs i—porta—t. 'However, thao. the goal should pet tn work to .-*ee that y_lo~pit_ «"__ i_uie wi_t it should be. Auy proposed a.ltera.tio—; should be 'ferred to the Britiah Medical As-' sof-'ion in Au__and. r G-rkind: "They are not re rpo nf_i to the Board in any way." r Bloomf-ld said still they could w—e advice of omntpefcc — men upon \\ v—tier, which should be of some -IPlr Davis supported the amendment-, _ thought the qucs-inn of hospital sic--ef&ochaion ,hould he gone into as soon ( possible. He thought the Board mild get a copy of Dr. MacGregpr's exM stive report, upon the hospital. Mr C—cv supported the amendment the ground that they could not deal ith the report without touching upon atters better left alone at present, Mr Bag_all regretted that the amendtent had been moved, as there were tier matters that could be discussed. he report had been published fully a nontb ago. and he would have thought nl member 4 - had resid and digested it, [he erection of the lift could be gone on with at once, also tho demolishing of the wivrer stairway to make additional lava-tj-,Tv accommodation, also the making of one of the wards, more Those _utcT3 ccuid be considered at once, without prejudicing Dr. Collins' ease in any ws_T. It would noi require any large eail upon the local bodies to do these works, which were really urgent matters not entailing au expenditure of more thsin sioOO to £600. The lift was the most important, as it was cruel to have to carry ac-i-ident ea-ses upstairs. Mr Brown opposed the motion io adjonrn. They should get oti with t.he report at once, in order to form of expenditure for the coming year. They m] asreed that they munt not discuss nay matter fennectrd with Dr. Collins. The Chairman said he quite agreed with Mr Ba_nall. The -tatc of the buildixz* and thp question of lees could be eorip tato ar once. Mr Harris' motion to sidjonrn was :hen put and lost. Mr Bollard iheu moved 'in adjournment for fourteen da.vs. He was quite billing to work in harmony with the lew member? of ihe Board, but if the joventmeni gave a report to the press L month aj_o. a further rielav of fourteen lays would not matter much. Mr Harri- seconded thi.- amendment. Mr (Larlsuiil said if tin- adjournment sas granted the Hospital Committee RTiuld U 4 able to repor* as to the work? renoirnuemii'il at the hospital. He would .-herrforn -uppi.rj siu for Sourteen day-. Mr Brown -iid i; would be better to refer clauses I. _'. and 4 re buildings. "ti.-.. lo the Hospital Conimittec to report -t a special meeting this day fortnight. , Mr Bruc-e agreed to 'be suggestion Bade hy Mr Brown. Mr Bollard :-_',_ t 'ne whole responsiruty of approving alterations should be trn-n on the Iti.spector-Cieneral of HosDitals. The best thing was lo ?ei a retort from the mmmittPi-. passb it by the —rd. and -end it on to the lus-rpeetor-—era I. Mr BagnaL! deprecau-d further delay ' what were undoubtedly urgeut m_fTS. This policy of drift was much to Things were delayed -til tne Comi— ssion sat. then till the . eport wa- received, and now further >clay was advocated, and in the rriean■hile patients had to suffer. There was oo much of thi 4 Parliamentary tendency ;nown to do notliing al all. -be motion to adjourn was then put. md lo6t on the easting vote of the chairnan. Mr Bollard: 1 ask leave io retire, a* T -rongiy protest a.ainst forcing this a-tter on. Mr Harri. : T also ask lea re to retire, .-annot discuss or conscientiously «-Pon Upo _ a report (if which t hav .' R __ r X rf " reivpd an official copy. If "ambers will force on this matter ihey n-'wt tike the responsibility. fc eßSrs - 8,,11i -rd and Harris then with_^f. L 'h«irman's motion not to discuss thm S affecting the Senior Medical 'mcer at present was then agreed to. HoT'+ a^ nail then moved: "That the me— Lonjm ittce report upon the best n3 of carrying out the recommenda-fco-!J- the re l >ort tmder the heading of buildinga. and report upon the ««• m three weeks' time." Mr Bag'jegTetted that Mr Bollard and Mr retired. His only aim waa W avoid delar. The motion was agreed to. PATTFTNTS' FEE 4 -: T_ i-_tr- 4 •!, laov ed that the clause -THi th fees ahlc by Dati2nts _S t 0 the Finance Comudttee. __T Lase y ; I think the chairman should a i lead on this question. as _id he quite <__gTt-d -*» a* fmffing ci the _*_______ in

[regard to fees payable by patients. Un-,-er their rules they charged patients I according to their means. He was surprised at the statement that 20 per cent, of the patients were well-to-do tand that only 7 per cent, made any comipsnsation to the Board. I Th. question was asked where did the J Commission get its fi&ures from The Chairman said the figures were Liven m evidence by one witness. Now as a matter of fact, in 1902 there were .I' -f patients admitted to the hospital. | and that number 213 paid full fees j ( only II per cent,), 501 paid part fees, ,/— paid no fees. 170 came from out-dis-jtriets and would be paid for by the j local bodies sending them, and 41* came | rrom the shipping, while there were still :it>.) open accounts. It was strange the Hospital Coni-ii&sion should n_ke such a statement when it was known that the Auckland Board recovered more fees I than any other in the colony. J Mr Garland agreed that those find ings were quite contrary to fact. One | person did say. he believed. 20 per cent. | could afford to pay. yet that was only an assertion, and yet Judge Ward went considerably out of his way to attack him (Mr Garland). Now, he had -aid h : s fees, but the point aimed at was that he had no right to go to the public Hospital and be treated there, but that he ought to have gone to a private on -. He claimed he had the right to go to the Hospital, and aUo that the Board was' only entitled to the full fees and no rnork The Board hud always charg. d patient! according to their moans. The ces were fixed at 4/8 per day. and more could not be claimed of anyone. Mr Bloomfield: That only covers cost of maintenance. Mr Garland: We pay nrthin" r o- the services of the honorary staff, and therefore cannot charge for those services. As long as those services were not given they could not be charged for. He claimed it was his right as a rat-pay: 4 T to go to the Hospital if necessit for such action, and to pay only the fee as fixed by the Board for or .nary :as- s. Mr Bloomfield: But you gor. . pecial ttention. Mr Garland: Xo matter if I did: I— Mr Bloomtield: It is a piy Mr Garlaud will persist in referring "to his own case. That is better left alone. If =such | a thing occurs again I shall take great pleasure in getting you sued for more I'eee. Mr Garland: I defy you to get more than the rate fixed by the Board, no mat- . ter who the patient is. Mr Bloomtield: You have b'-pn pretty well condemned already in regard to this matter. Mr Garland. _id you had better sit down and bear it. Mr Garland: I will not bear it from you. The chairman here interfered, suggesting that the matter under consideration was "fees payable by patients."' Mr Garland: I am talking about fees payable hy patients. I consi 'er Mr Bloomfield'? remarks undignified and ungentlemanly. Mr Bloomtield: You arc presuming too much upon the generosity of the Board in keeping on referring to this matter. Tlie Chairman: Please do nit personal. As your ce*r is not referred to in the report, Mr Garland, there is no need to discuss it here. Mr Garland: I say without far nf contradiction that Judge W rd must have been influenced by my per.-onal enemies, and that be went out of his way to say to mo what he did. knowing that I could not answer him back. Mr Bruce said he was on 'he Fe n s Committee during a period of very great depression, and knew how hard It was to "oliirt at times. Tlie ho'ise -toward presented a bill when the p.iti nt wi nt out. and then Ihe F- 4 es Cnm.nsttee had to sec if the patient could a;ioni to pay j full Ho imisit s;iy be mver —\vr \ v rich man in the Ho-pital. How was' the committee to know the rich patients when presenting the hill? Thy mu< have some tixed charges. He con'ended that the amount written off from time to time showed that the Board had never harassed the poor. If they showed they could not pay, in eight cases out of t.e.n the fees were almost wiped out. Mr. Casey said it was not right to debar any ratepayer the privilege of going to the hospital lor treatment. At the same time he must admit that 28/ per week was not enough to charge those who could affoTd to pay more. They should have higher charges as well—say £2 10/ and £44' per week. Tbe people on the Commission evidently thought the Board should send those who could afford to pay to the private hospitals. probably for the benefit of the doctors. They must remember that there were appliances in the hospital that could not be got anywhere else in Auckland, and why should not ratepayers have the benefit of them? The. chairman said as regards the collection of fees, it was? absurd to say that the poor were harassed. Here was one monthly report of the Fees Committee— total fees £747 17/4, wiped off £070 11/. I paid £77 6/4. Did that look like harassing the poor? And similar reports were received month after month. The question of fees was then referred to the Finance Committee. On the motion of Mr. Bagnall, it was agreed "that consideration of the remainder of the report be deferred untU after the decision of the Supreme Court in the case against Dr. Collin?.''