Akaroa Hospital Change Queried

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31225, 24 November 1966, Page 19

Akaroa Hospital Change Queried

A decision to open the Akaroa Hospital to selected general cases was questioned by Mr R. G. Armstrong at yesterday’s meeting of the North Canterbury Hospital Board.

The Health Department has given permission for three bedrooms to be used as short-

term holding beds. Was there any guarantee that the hospital at Akaroa would be used any more in J the future when the occupied bed rate was lower than that at the Cheviot Hospital? Mr i Armstrong said. I It was proposed to make better use of the hospital which was already there, said IMr J. B. Hay. The scheme i would be tried for 12 months, and would be re-examined if it did not w’ork. The Akaroa Hospital was primarily for maternity cases, said the medical superintend-ent-in-chief, Dr. L. M. Berry. It was proposed to make additional use of it for short-stay cases, and old people on a long-stay basis would not be considered.

! Mr Armstrong said the hospital was only 45 minutes I from Christchurch, but the Cheviot Hospital was much j further away. I “All we want is to make

greatest use of the Akaroa Hospital for the benefit of the people of the Peninsula,” said Dr. Averill, “and the doctor there will appreciate the change.”