HOSPITAL POLICY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXI, Issue 83, 8 April 1930, Page 6

HOSPITAL POLICY.

The proposal of the Hospital Board to enlarge the Epsom Infirmary so that it may accommodate an overflow of long-standing and convalescent cases from the general hospital, raises more than one interesting question. It will certainly be an improvement from the point of view of the main institution to relieve it of more or less chronic cases. Room will be made for general cases, and there is no reason to suppose that the patients who are moved will be any worse off than they are now. Whether the infirmary is the most suitable place for convalescents is another question, and the Hospital Board will be wise if it goes thoroughly into the question of permanent provision for such cases. If it does not it may drift into the position of committing itself to the Infirmary. Indeed, the whole question of hospital extension policy is raised again by this proposal. This extension of the Infirmary may be taken as a recognition that the main hospital has reached the limit of efficient administration. Long before a start was made with the infectious diseases block a good many citizens thought this point had been reached. It will now be asked whether another large hospital is to grow up in Epsom, and, generally, what are the plans of the Board.