OTAGO HOSPITALS Board Considers Closures

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31339, 8 April 1967, Page 1

OTAGO HOSPITALS Board Considers Closures

(New Zealand Press Association)

DUNEDIN, April 7.

The Otago Hospital Board is examining every item of its maintenance spending, but at the moment can see a saving of only £20,000 a year by “penny-pinching,” according to the chairman of the board, Mr H. L.' Gibson.

Mr Gibson said this today when commenting on opposition to his statement on Thursday that the board might have to consider closing the hospitals at Lawrence, Palmerston, Roxburgh and Tapanui or closing wards at Dunedin.

The closures might have to be considered, the statement said, because the Health Department had effectively cut the amount available for maintenance in 1967-

68 by £195,370. It had done this by declaring the board a “high-cost” board and cutting the allocation by 10s for each person in the district—a total cut of £62,370 and by disregarding the board’s expecta-

tion of at least a 5 per cent rise in costs amounting to about £133,000.

"The board has just spent three weeks closely examining every item of expenditure,” Mr Gibson said today. “By penny-pinching we

eould possibly save £20,000 a year. But we have got to apply the rule all the time: ‘Does this affect the standard of patient care?’ “The board is determined not to make savings at the expense of patient welfare.”

Extra Services By declaring the Otago Hospital Board a high-cost board, the Health Department was unfairly penalising the board, which had to provide these extra services:

(1) Teaching hospitals. Experience in Britain had shown that these hospitals cost from 25 per cent to 30 per cent more to run than ordinary hospitals. ’(2) Specialist services for several other hospital boards in the southern half of the South Island as well as for some

patients from boards farther afield. No recovery of these costs was possible. (3) The provision of expensive equipment, such as that used in the neurosurgery unit, which benefitted people from many other areas as well as the board’s district (4) The physiotherapy school. Costs Compared Mr Gibson said the maintenance costs a head of population in the Otago board’s district were £2O a year, compared with £l2 15s 7d for the Auckland board, £l2 10s 9d for the Christchurch board and £l3 Ils 9d for the Wellington board. “The whole of the Otago board’s finances are subject to frequent departmental investigation as well as Treasury audit “So far as I am aware, we have never been accused of extravagance, waste, or improper expenditure.” Meanwhile, in Lawrence, Palmerston, Roxburgh and Tapanui today strong opposi-

tion was expressed at the possibility of the local hospitals being closed by the Otago board. The chairman of the Palmerston Hospital committee, Dr. I. Harper, said that an emergency meeting of the committee would be held early next week to discuss the situation. The Waihemo County Council would also discuss the possible closure at its next meeting. Two Stands At Lawrence the chairman of the Lawrence Hospital committee, Mr J. T. Sinclair, said Lawrence had made two stands previously to keep its hospital open and would do the same again, if necessary. A special meeting of the committee would be held next week to discuss the situation. If the Otago Hospital Board took any further action, the committee would approach the member of Parliament for Otago Central, Mr J. H. George. Emergency Talks At Roxburgh, the chairman of the local hospital committee, Mr R. C. Service, said an emergency meeting would be held next Tuesday. At Tapanui, the Mayor, Mr E. R. Young, said he felt the board could make economies without closing the town’s hospital.