Hospitals Charging 7 Guineas A Day

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30761, 27 May 1965, Page 5

Hospitals Charging 7 Guineas A Day

The cost of accommodation at the hospitals of the North Canterbury Hospital Board, except the Coronation Hospital, for persons not entitled to Social Security benefit will be £7 7s a day as from June 1, the board decided yesterday. The present charge is £6 10s a day.

The rise is subject to the approval of the Minister of Health (Mr McKay). The charge at the Coronation Hospital will remain at £3 17s 6d a day. The charge for a bed at the other hospitals was £5 10s a day up to August 1, 1963, when it became £6 a day. On August 1 last year the figure was raised to £6 10s a day. Charges are made to persons who enter hospital after an accident for which someone else is liable; to residents of overseas countries, except the United Kingdom: and to persons whose fees are paid under workers’ compensation agreements. The secretary (Mr J. G. Laurenson) said the charges had to be raised to meet the increased cost of running the hospitals. The figure of £7 7s was a weighted average for all the hospitals concerned. Princess Margaret Chapel. —The possibility of placing the proposed Princess Margaret Hospital chapel either at the front or the side of the hospital was mentioned by the chairman of the board’s works committee (Mr L. A. Bennett). The hospital chaplains had been asked to submit a schedule of requirements for the chapel, and in particular the number of persons to be accommodated, so that the board’s architect could prepare sketch plans. Greetings.—Greetings will be sent by the board to Dr. G. C. T. Burns, the board’s senior microbiologist, who has been on sick leave for several months. Week-end Service.—An oncall service will in future be provided on Saturdays and Sundays by the board’s medical social workers. Nurses’ Salaries. The board will support the Otago Hospital Board in seeking a special conference of the Hospital Board’s Association of New Zealand to consider the new nurses’ salary regulations.

Emergency Department.— The final working drawings for the emergency and accident department of the Christchurch Hospital (the successor to the present casualty department) should be ready for submission to the Health Department for approval by the end of this month.

Housewives’ Training.— Kitchen facilities at Burwood Hospital for the re-training of disabled housewives, and possibly equipment for training in other daily-living activities, with improved physiotherapy facilities and the possible combination of the two sections into a department of physical medicine, will be considered by the board’s planning committee.

St Helens Busy.—The daily average occupied bed rate of the St. Helens Hospital in April (48.56) was slightly higher than the number of established beds (48), but patients were accommodated in beds on the verandas as has been done many times before at. busy periods. There were 138 admissions and 109 confinements during the month. Essex Hospital had 79 admissions and 67 confinements in April. Caterers’ Training.—Training will probably be provided in the board’s major hospitals for catering staff from small hospitals in other board areas. A request for this was received by the board from the Hospital Boards’ Association of New Zealand, and the board’s chief dietitian (Mrs A. L. Rees) reported that no difficulty was expected in meeting the request.

Golf Trophy.—Ten nations will compete in the Senior Service international team trophy golf tournament at Dalmahoy, Edinburgh, on July 27. Britain will be represented by the four home countries, and the United States, Japan. South Africa, Australia, Spain and France complete the Held. The over-all prise money la £20,400.