NEW GRADING.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 85, 11 April 1933, Page 10

NEW GRADING.

UNFIT UNEMPLOYED.

RESPONSIBILITY DEFINED.

" BORDER-LINE » CASES. An entirely new classification of, and division of responsibility for, the physically unfit unemployed, involving the eliminatio nof the class B2 grading, and the appointment of stanCttng committees to settle disputes, have been evolved as a result of a conference held in Wellington this week, between members of the Unemployment Board, the Hon. A. Hamilton, Minister of Employment, the executive of the Hospital Boards' Association of New Zealand, the Department of Health, and the Hon. J. A. Young, Minister of Health.

The object of the conference, which ■was convened by Mr. Young, was to discuss unemployment relief measures and administrative questions affecting both hospital boards and the Unemployment Board. An official report states that it was shown that in one or two of the larger centres some difficulty was still being experienced in allocating as between the hospital board and the Unemployment Board the responsibility for granting assistance to unemployed men who were more or less physically unfit. Special consideration was given to this question in an endeavour to guard against delay in dealing with applications for relief in necessitous cases.

New Classifications. After much discussion it was unanimously agreed that the following physical classification of unemployed men, and the following definition of responsibility for assistance, should be adopted in future: — "Hospital board doctors examining at the instance of the Unemployment Board's local officer any unemployed man who claims not to be fit for ordinary relief work should endeavour to classify each examinee definitely under one of the following classes: Class A, men tit for any work in any place; class B, men fit for light work only; class C, men unfit for work of any kind. It is to be borne in mind in examining men for classification purposes that the great bulk of the work available is manual labour.

"Men in classes A and B will be recognised as the responsibility of the Unemployment Board. Men in class C will Ue recognised as the responsibility of the hospital board.

"Where the medjeal classification is doubtful, and, for this or any other reason, responsibility is disputed, prompt endeavour should be made to settle the question, the hospital board being recommended to afford any necessary relief meantime." ■

Settling Disputes. Conference further recommended that in the larger centres a standing committee be set up consisting of a representative from the Unemployment Board, the hospital board, and the local authority, to go promptly into each case in dispute, review the medical report, and decide as to classification. "Doubtless 'with" the continued cooperation of hospital boards and Unemployment Board officers," the report adds, "any difficulties that arise will be easily- overcome, thus avoiding delay in giving necessary relief."

Satisfactory Outcome. Commenting this morning on the outcome of the conference, Mr. W. Wallace, chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board, who attended in his capacity as president of the Hospital Boards' Association, stated that, in his opinion, decisions of great value had been reached. As had been pointed out at the conference, there had been in the past a great deal of difficulty in dealing with the class 82, or borderline cases. In Auckland men unfortunately grouped under that classification had been buffeted from pillar to post, being sent from the Unemployment Board to the hospital board, with the latter disclaiming responsibility and referring the case back to the Unemployment Board. The result was that the applicants were almost in a state of starvation before anything could be done to assist them. The decisions made by the conference would clear up that difficulty, and avoid the tortuous process the borderline cases had encountered in being sent from one authority to another. The committee it was proposed to set up would -deal with cases in which there was a dispute as to classification, and in his opinion that filled a long-felt want.