HOSPITAL BOARDS.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16406, 28 December 1918, Page 11

HOSPITAL BOARDS.

dual duties inadvisable

There has been a tendency recently among some of the smaller . hospital boards (says the "Journal of Public Health") to endeavour to economise by< combining the positions of 1 secrotary to the Board and sanitary inspector; and thouglj, in the case of some of the smaller Boards, the Department has not actually objected to the arrangement, yet it is of opinion that, generally speaking, such not produce the economy desired, and, moreover, is detrimental to the efficient work in either capacity. The duties of a secretary of a small Board are at the_ hospital, where he should interview every patient on discharge. The amount of fees payable to even the smallest Hoards is considerable, and the amount ( of had debts, that have to be written off would oftentimes considerably more than pay the secretary's salary. In many instances patients are not interviewed upon their discharge as regards their account; but if such were done tho secretary's salary might be saved twice over.. It is not' the duty of the matron or the medical superintendent to interview patients regarding their their duties being entirely confined to treating and nursing the patients and ensuring their quick recovery. If the sanitary .inspector,; gives .his first attention to his secretarial duties it may happen that his work. as an inspector may be neglected, and there may be complaints from local bodies that they are not getting sufficient return for their contributions towartfs the salary of the sanitary inspector. Moreover, a man who has received an efficient training as a secretary might not have received any training as a sanitary inspector,' and conversely it might be found that a man who has been trained in sanitary science as. a sanitary inspector had received little training in secretarial duties or accountancy, the training for these two positions being along entirely different lines. The Department, however, has had nothing to complain of in this respect, and if all tho Hospital Boards' annual statements of accounts were prepared as promptly and correctly as the Boards whose secretary holds the dual position the Department's annual report tables could be assembled at a much earlier date; but, apart from/ this, enough has been said to show that it is difficult for an officer holding the combined position to give thorough attention to one set of his duties without neglecting the other. Boards should therefore he- very careful .before milking such dual appointments in future. and meanwhile should adopt a considerate attitude to officers at present filling such difficult positions, "especially as. generally sneikinc. such officers have performed then* dual functions efficiently and well.