PLASTIC SURGERY UNIT

Press, Volume LXXX, Issue 24237, 20 April 1944, Page 3

PLASTIC SURGERY UNIT

REORGANISATION AT BURWOOD GOVERNMENT’S DECISIONS (P.A,) WELLINGTON, April 20. The Acting-Prime Minister (the Hon. D. G. Sullivan) said to-night that after a conference among representatives of the Department of Health and the Army, and the North Canterbury Hospital Board, certain proposals had been agreed to for the plastic surgery unit at Burwood, and the War Cabinet had now formally adopted these recommendations. Mr Sullivan said that the plastic surgery unit at Burwood was to become a department of the Burwood Hospital, and Colonel J. J. Brownlee, the officer in charge of the unit, would be responsible to the North Canterbury Hospital Board, through its medical superintendent, for the efficiency and smooth working of the unit. The North Canterbury Hospital Board would accept sole responsibility for the provision of buildings and equipment, including medical supplies, necessary for the proper functioning of the unit. The male staff of the unit, including doctors, dentists, and orderlies, would continue, as at present, to be Army personnel. The female staff would be placed on a civilian basis. Mr Sullivan said the board would provide at Burwood . a small massage department, with masseurs, •to deal locally with patients requiring massage. It would also provide at Burwood an adequate occupational therapy department under the charge of a trained occupational therapist, and it would take immediate steps to provide the extra beds which were wanted to deal with the large waiting list of patients requiring treatment. The provision of the necessary accommodation was to be proceeded with forthwith. “I should like to take this opportunity.” added Mr Sullivan, "of paying a tribute to Colonel Brownlee and those associated with him for the excellent results so far achieved at Burwood. The necessity fpr providing the additional accommodation is now such that a slight reorganisation is desirable, and the War Cabinet feels confident that these decisions will remove any misunderstandings which have existed in the past. It should shortly be possible to deal with all cases offering, both military and civilian."