HOSPITAL "CUTS."

Auckland Star, Volume LXII, Issue 95, 23 April 1931, Page 8

HOSPITAL "CUTS."

ECONOMIES COMMENCED

WILL DIET BE "RECAST"?

'URGENT" CASES MAY BE

RE-EXAMINED,

ADDITIONAL £15,000 AVAILABLE.

"A Chinese puzzle!" commented Mr. W. Wallace, chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board, this morning, when referring to a telegram he had received from the Minister of Health, the Hon. A. J. Stallworthv, stating that his Department had evidently made an error In regard to subsidy allocations for the current year by overlooking the fact that £21,000 in levies and subsidies were outstanding. The error, said Mr. Stalljvortliv, would represent in round figures JO per cent additional, or £15,000, which would be available for Auckland. He tad requested the Department to review the position urgently.

"We are at a loss to know how the figures were arrived at," said Mr. Wallace. "The telegram from the Minister is quite bewildering and unexplanatory. It apparently means that we are to be permitted to spend an additional £15,000, but that 'concession' is totally inadequate. I note that the Wanganui Board is about to close a ward anil reduce staff, and that able-bodied men who have families will not receive relief in future. No doubt this step has been taken after due consideration, but I cannot conceive Auckland refusing to assist men able and willing to work, and out of employment through no fault of their own. Are we to stand by and see them and their dependents starve ? "I strongly hold the opinion that the Consolidated Fund should bear the expense for the relief of men who are able and willing to work, leaving the burden of legitimate charitable relief to the boards." Suggestions Criticised. Referring to the circular from the Director-General of Health (summarised below) setting out suggestions for the reduction of expenditure, Mr. Wallace said the Auckland Board had not waited to be told by the Hospital Department to set up a committee to consider economies. The board had acted in that direction on its own initiative some time ago. "There is a proposal that wo should recast the diet scale,"' said Mr. Wallace. "I never thought I would live to receive an instruction from the Department under this head. The Department knows perfectly well that our diet scale is on the limit, and that no extras arc allowed without the express orders of the medical man in charge of the case. "Then there is the question of reducing the stay in hospital. That question has been before the board for some time, ajid steps have been taken to curtail the period as far as possible. Sisters fn charge of the various wards are vicing each with the other to reduce expenditure, both in respect to staff and dressings. Twelve Vacant Beds. *The medical superintendent has been fastructed to curtail the number of admissions, and has endeavoured to do so for the past two weeks, but with all his efforts the hospital had only 12 vacant beds last night. Medical men keep oh sending in cases which they state are 'urgent,' and we will have to consider whether or not patients will be examined on arrival by our own staff to determine the degree of urgency in each instance. Wherever possible, patients will have to be treated in their oWn homes." In referring to the estimates for the year, which will be considered at a special meeting of the board to-morrow, Mr. Wallace said he could not understand the Director-General's instruction that estimates were not to be submitted for the approval of the Minister until they had been balanced within the prescribed limits. That statement meant that estimates had to be reduced at the dictum of the Government. The Department, however, had no need to wait for the estimates, because they had already been definitely fixed by the Minister himself, a figure having been stated that the board was not permitted to exceed. Anxious to Assist. "The board is anxious and willing to assist in this time of emergency," added Mr. Wallace, "and the Minister has been assured of our co-operation, hut, as far as I can it will be humanelv impossible to give fff-2Ct to the Government's recommendations without cutting out beds and rel : ef expenditure. We are asked to reduce the admission of old people, to the infirmary to a minimum, and that outdoor relief should be administered with the utmost care. This is alreadv being done, but the demands are ever increasing. If we budiretai for the 90 per cent of last year's expenditure, as proposed bv the Department, we would spend £54.000 this year on outdoor relief, but with the 'cut' made by the Government we will not, be able to provide more tha'n £30.000 under this head, and after that amount w spont we will be up apainst it properly. The whole thing is tra«jc, and wants urgent review by the Government."