Hospital boards "not competent’

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 33965, 4 October 1975, Page 16

Hospital boards "not competent’

'Aeu Zealand Press Association* DUNEDIN, October 3. Hospital boards were not competent to handle the administration of their health services, the Minister of Health < Mr McGuigan) said in Dunedin today.

Speaking to students and faculty members of the Otago Medical School. Mr McGuigan criticised the efficiency of the hospital board system when answering questions on the White Paper on health. He questioned the manner in which the Auckland and Otago hospital boards had cut back on patient services when funds were short and not provided non-medica! services.

“Whenever there is a cutback in funds it’s the doctors and nurses who are reduced. I wonder why this is always the case?” he said. The shortcomings in hospital board staffing priorities was one of the basic weaknesses of the existing health service, he said. Mr McGuigan said he was positive that many of the particular problems experienced by the individual administrations would be eliminated by a reorganisation of the health service. Expertise "We must get into the administrative level people with expertise and ability to administer a multi-million dollar service. With ail respect to members on these boards, we are not getting this at present." He said the great majority of hospital boards had no idea of budgeting control and as a result of their inability to handle finances were running into trouble after two months of the financial year.

Earlier. Mr McGuigan gave the prime cause of the unsettled state of the present health services as the division between the major agencies — the Department of Health, hospital boards, and private and voluntary health organisations.

Agencies had grown “quite separate” and there was a|i restriction of staff and ideas ’ to prevent a concentrated ap- i proach to health problems. < "Fragmentation is at the!; heart of the problem,” he : said i

The existing system arrived from a concept advanced in 1948 and since then no attempt had been made to examine the health service as a whole. After a lapse of 30 years it was well past the time that this country did so.