Provision Of Electric Blankets Not Favoured

Press, Volume CVIII, Issue 31770, 29 August 1968, Page 6

Provision Of Electric Blankets Not Favoured

A suggestion by Mf V. J. Corbett that electric blankets should eventually be provided for all hospital patients was rejected by most members of the North Canterbury Hospital Board at their meeting yesterday. The board approved in principle the use of electric blankets by suitable long-stay batients in the board’s homes for the elderly, subject to annual inspections of the blankets at the owners* expense. Mr Corbett said he hoped eventually that approved electric blankets would be supplied to all patients. How much would the taxpayer be prepared to stand? asked Mr J. B. Hay. One thousand or so blankets a year would be required and sueb a move might result in some boilerhouses having to elose down. With the level of heating provided in hospital, eleetrie blankets were quite unjustified, said the medical superintendent (Dr L. M. Berry).

In some cases, their use could be dangerous to patients. The chairman (Mr L. A. Bennett) said the cost of providing electrical plugs, especially in Older hospitals, would be fantastic. He also said blaiikefs could have a deleterious effect on some patients’ physiology. Patients might not turn them off, and they might get too hot Mr Corbett said we lived in an electrical age and the latest blankets were thermostatically controlled.

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