Private Hospitals

Press, Volume CX, Issue 32351, 17 July 1970, Page 12

Private Hospitals

Sir, —From Mr and Mrs Muirhead’s letter it appears that the Waimairi County Council is easily sidetracked from its responsibilities to the elderly and infirm. I am sure many readers would like to know the real reasons for their refusal to allow a qualified nurse the opportunity to open a private hospital. Several registered old people’s homes, some of them giving full nursing care, are already established in city areas zoned as “residential A” with the full approval of neighbouring property owners, the City Council, and the Health Department. Does the Waimairi council imagine that there are no old people in Fendalton requiring nursing care? Or do they think that hospitals and old people’s homes might somehow lower the tone of the area?—Yours, CONVALESCENT. July 8, 1970. [Mr D. B. Rich, Waimairi county chairman, replies: “In the opinion of council the site was unsuitable and too small for the proposed extensions to the existing home for the elderly. The council would support such a use in a residential area providing that use would not detract from the particular neighbourhood and that any reasonable requirements of the council regarding parking, access, etc., could be met. The council did, in fact, support the original application for the home to be established. The tone of your correspondent’s inquiry deteriorates as his letter progresses, and his closing remarks do him little credit. The county district planning scheme is administered uniformly throughout the county.”]