House Surgeons

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30045, 1 February 1963, Page 3

House Surgeons

Sir, —I was interested to read the protest, by the chairman of the Southland Hospital Board, on the poor treatment the board has received from the Health Department in alleviating its shortage of house surgeons A friend of mine, who is now a house surgeon in the North Island, applied for a position of house surgeon at Kew Hospital, Invercargill, for 1963 and was accepted. A month or two Later the Southland board informed him that his services in 1963 were no Longer required. My friend, at that late stage, had to change his plans completely and find another position. Shortly after he bad done so he received another letter from the Southland board saying that his services would be welcomed after ail. Unwilling to break faith with the other board, and disgusted with the treatment of the Southland board, he refused this offer. Ulis incident was widely discussed among the graduating bouse surgeons with obvious conclusions.—Yours, etc., F. T. L. HULL. January 23. 1963. [The chairman of the Southland Hospital Board (Mr J. A. Cushen) said: ‘The board thanks the correspondent for not taking refuge under the cloak of anonymity in publicising his complaint The facts as he presents them are, as far as they go, correct, but the matter to which he refers can hardly be discussed in detail here at the behest of a third party. They are the inevitable result of the unseemly annual scramble tor house surgeons among hospital boards dictated by an increasing need tor these men in the face of a reduced availability. This increasing shortage is blandly ignored by the pluming authorities, and beyond officially recognising the shortage nothing positive is being done to pro”ide for the future. While appreciating the viewpoint of Mr Hull and his friend, and regretting to the utmost the action the board was forced to take, the vital point is that our patients must suffer because the board was powerless to continue the arrangement regarding his service.”]