NOT FOLLOWED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVIII, Issue 83, 9 April 1937, Page 9

NOT FOLLOWED.

USUAL PROCEDURE.

COMPULSORY BALLOT.

REPLY TO DR. SWEET.

Commenting upon the position which has arisen, Mr. E. H.- Potter said that he had given notice of motion to move at the next meeting of the board that all applications for appointment to the honorary staff be submitted first to the honorary consulting staff, and that the honorary physicians and surgeons to be appointed to the staff be increased to not less than eight, and that the honorary physicians and surgeons, be not fewer than eight in each group. Mr* Potter said that the by-laws provided for a certain number of honorary physicians and surgeons to be appointed to the board, and tbat the applications should be called by advertisement. The advertisement invited applications for the positions of eight, surgeons in each group, and in submitting the names to the committee that was set up, a report was not asked for by the medical superintendent or the committee on a reduction of the honorary staff from eight to seven. He claimed that the work had justified an increase in the . honorary staff, rather than a decrease, as the work in all the departments at the Auckland Hospital was increasing. They had 107 registered nurses and 251 probationers, and the total staff was 670. The presence of an honorary staff was essential in the interests of the paitients, where so many young people were receiving their training. Independent Body. Mr. Potter said that the procedure until the recent election was to refer the< candidates to the honorary consulting staff, which was an independent body not actively engaged in any work at the hospital. It was a body specially elected for -the purpose of referring to it any special matter of importance? It was .for the consulting staff to examine qualifications and to make any recommendations. In the present Instance, a departure wa« made from the regular practice, in that the names were sent to a special committee on which there were several laymen, and some of the members of the honorary staff on the committee were engaged in hospital work. The reduction that was decided upon meant a reduction of the present honorarv staff. The chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board, the Rev. W. C. Wood, explained this morning that the special committee was set up on a recommendation from the honorary staff, and the lay members on it were himself, Mr. W. Wallace and Mrs. Dreaver. He said that the reduction from eight to seven was made on the advice of the medical superintendent of the Auckland Hospital, who was responsible for the working of the institution: In due course the special committee, which had given the applications the most thorough consideration, made its recommendations to the board, and they were adopted. Under the conditions of the Hospitals and Charitable Aid Boards Act the selection had to be made by ballot by the meml>ers of the board. Mr. Wood said that the board was quite in order in altering the number nfter the applications had been called. The Chairman's Appreciation. High appreciation of the attitude adopted by the honorary medical staff, in as much as without demur they had agreed to carry on until the end of the present month, was expressed by Mr. Wood who made a statement that there would be ample time for the necessary adjustments in staffing to be made by the time the new members of the honorary staff take up their duties. "The hospital is functioning exactly as heretofore, rnd the position that has arisen has made no difference to the three gentlemen who * were fortunately displaced at the recent election," he added. Mr. Wood took the opportunity to refer to the letter published in the •tStar" last evening by Dr. G. Bruton Sweet, and forwarded to liim on March 24. Mr. Wood explained that he had replied to Jsr. Sweet on the following day acknowledging receipt of the doctor's letter in which he discussed the action of the board in abolishing the post of honorary physician to babies. "I will, of course, place your letter before the board," stated Mr. Wood's letter, "but in the meantime desire to assure , you that you are quite wrong in attributing this action 'to the lay members of the board. Tlie joint committee set up by the board met as required by the by-laws. The suggestion to reduce the number of physicians from eight to seven came from the medical section, and it was agreed to by the lay section, only on the assurance of the medical section that it was a wise and proper step to take. At this juncture I am only concerned in assuring you that your strictures on a lay body determining this matter are Incorrect'" Mr. Wood added that Dr. Sweet had stated that "for many years medical men of high professional attainment, who had given their services to the hospital not only gratuitously, but often at considerable pecuniary loss to themselves, have been dependent upon their reappointment as honoraries on the personal bias of members of the board," and he wished very strongly to protest against the suggestion. The personal opinions of the board had entered into the matter very slightly, he declared.