IN TWO MONTHS.!

Auckland Star, Volume LXIX, Issue 228, 27 September 1938, Page 4

IN TWO MONTHS.!

HOPE OF CHAIRMAN.!

DEFINITE HOSPITAL PLANS.

URGENCY OF NURSES' HOME. I

Hopes that definite proposals for the milding policy to be carried out at the Auckland Hospital would be made public vithin two months were expressed at i meeting of the Auckland Hospital Joard last night by the chairman, Mr. Ulan J. Moody. Reporting on recent discussions with ] iealth Department officials, Mr. Moody j aid there was no doubt that the time md arrived when something must be! lone, ,-ind he hoped that the board would I t'-n at least be coming out of the J viklerness. There had been too much' lelay in the past. i "I can only hope that we will be well ' >n the way with the actual work next ! .car, and that in the centenary year | substantial progress will have been made' md some of the new buildings erected," I :e added. i The trend of diseu**.ion on the matter! »t a special meeting of the board held! last week, when Dr. R. A. Shore, Director if the Division of Hospitals, was present, ; was reported in the minutes. The report -tated that all present had agreed that the most urgent question wa« the extension of the Nurses' Home, but there was ■I difference of opinion on the question of whether this work should be immediately! proceeded with. |

Facts for Consideration. In considering any comprehensive K-hcnw, Dr. Shore had said, these facts nust be taken into account: — '•No permanent addition should be j iiade to any building in the hospital 1 trounds unless it was part of the general '■ ■(heme. '•Accommodation for nun** was lrg'Mitly necessary. "The hoard could not sacrifice a single *d until additions were made to replace .he beds lost. "A»y plan must co-ordinate all the' tanou* department*. '•The Department of Health would! l,n . /?. 1 ~avc s,, '"»ittcd to it any! •jan that did not allow for easy exten- i «r°rivcd." tyi>e required when * the "me I uhuZ T"n tO J,' C consi had been | £ d b 7 Dr - SU °™ in the following I oder of urgency:-(!) Extension to i uses home; (2) provision for tuber-' b se L™?V (3) «*«»*« to main I oase hospital. |

iJS- d *, be,, £ ved that of thc ™i<»bt.iW.np, the Copley Wards were the thUl ~ " hou,d be deinolinhed. and thought the most mutable scheme was the one which at first left the main of'a ,H,t . inVO,Ved e «e«on! of a block between it and the Costlev: Wards, and then another on the site o*f the existing wards 11 and 12. The next' steps in this scheme were the demolition : of the Costley Wards and replacement. sioii of the main building. New Life in Proposals. j tlPxv n tely «P'- Shore had believed,' the Wallace Wards or the present children s hospital might well become a r f™" r y hospital, but this question should be held in abeyance. He had tclt it was quite reasonable for the board to erect rapidly on one of its properties a building of an "emergency"' nature to give immediate relief Elaborating on the discussion, Mr Moody said last night that members must agree that the question of the nurses home was most urgent He ! had been informed that the board was! paying well over £10,000 a vear for] j nurse* who were living out. That was | an alarming sum of money, which could be put to better use on actual buildinoI works. °

As regarded provision for tuberculosis cases, the chairman said it would be necessary to go into the question of a site again, but time would not be wasted a* it had been in the past. He added that he thought the time had also arrived for extensions to be made to the infirmary.

I told Dr. Shore that when we do proceed with the scheme we are going to do it properly," Mr. Moody continued, referring to the matter of extending the main hospital base "I think the Department welcomes the sign of new life which has been given to the proposals as a whole."