HOSPITALS IN U.S.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19104, 13 September 1927, Page 15

HOSPITALS IN U.S.

OF HIGH EFFICIENCY. CENTRALISATION POLICY. [THE PBEBS Special Service.] AUCKLAND, September 12. The wonderful efficiency and high standard of administration maintained in public hospitals throughout the United States greatly impressed Mr Murdoch- Fraser, chairman of the New Plymouth Hospital Board, and member of the Dominion Board of Health, who returned from a four months' visit to the United States and Canada by the Niagara. Mr Frascr waß given every assistance by the American authorities, and was enabled to inspect no fewer than 65 institutions between Los Angeles and Portland, Oregon. "I consider the United States leads the world in hospital administration," stated Mr Fraser. "The public are very generous, and their institutions very wealthy. I also found that the authorities are ever ready to learn. Whenever I met them I could get no information from them until I told them about our own hospitals, and the way they are run. - ' As the result of his visit Mr Fraser is more than ever convinced that the weakness in the hospital system of this country is that there are too many hospitals. As an instance he stated that there was an institution at New Plymouth, and within a radius of 40 miles there were other institutions at Stratford and at Hawera. In the United States.a policy of centralisation had been adopted, and this,might well be followed in the Dominion. Centralisation led to greater co-ordination, less j expenditure, and greater efficiency. "