GROWING USE OF HOSPITALS

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22142, 12 July 1937, Page 10

GROWING USE OF HOSPITALS

Position in City Discussed INSTITUTIONS FULL BUT NOT OVERCROWDED Two factors, a growing tendency tor people of all classes to make use of hospitals and a Dominion-wide shortage of nurses, were prominent among" causes suggested to explain the accommodation being taxed to a limit in the public and major private hospitals in the city _a position confirmed yesterdaywhen inquiries based on the reports of overcrowding of Wellington and Auckland hospitals were made by "The Press." It was stated that the position in Christchurch could not be called acute, and that, while there was undoubtedly crowding, there was not overcrowding. The gradual growth of the popularity was shown when it was stated that the Lewisham Hospital had increased the strength of its accommodation from 13 beds 25 years ago by additions on four occasions since, bringing its number to 110 beds. In May. all the patients applying for j admission could not be taken, although in June and July, up to now, the applicants had temporarily decreased in number. It was the experience of the hospital that people of all classes, including those who had not previously made use of hospital service, were doing so now. "The hospital is full, and there is a waiting list," said the chairman of the North Canterbury Hospital Board (Mr H. J. Otley), when he was asked to comment. 1 tnuiK that through the Dominion and through the whole world hospitals are being used more and are being pinched for room." Schemes were in contemplation, he said, to meet any emergency) which might arise; but the emergency was not anticipated. The hosP S had not been in a serious corner, and the P°fJ™ f d not been acute in the city. The recent epidemic had made a temporary difference, and a normal ™rease of sickness in the waiter had added to the board's trials, yet he did not think Christchurch was in quite: as bad a position as other cities. Staff problems :ontributed, especially in 'tgtefnfwfh Wellington and Auckland reports, he attributed the increased use of the hospitals to a growing population and to modern onditions (improved facilities at the hospitals themselves, and, principally, the changing outlook 6f the Pe "Nunibers of patients are continually increasing, but our chief difficulty is in finding a nursing staff because of the shortage in the Dominion" said Dv. J. W Crawshaw, , of the executive of the St. George s 'private hospital, who agreed that I modern conditions were a strong m- ' Quence Accommodation was made 1 difficult, too, he added, by the greater numbers of persons desiring treatment for illnesses about whicn they would not have bothered previously. . *„♦!,„ One of the main reasons for the tendency to make more use of the hospitals, he suggested, was the advantage of a night and day service there, and the disadvantage and expense of treatment in private homes. The advantages of the hospitals were the obvious ones of modern equipment, expert attention, and the constant service maintained There was no doubt that the old attitude that the hospital was a place to be used as a last resort had been supplanted.