'Patient services safe’

Press, 18 June 1979, Page 10

'Patient services safe’

The staffing economies which are being considered jfor Sunnyside Hospital (should not affect patient ser’vices, according to the acting ! chief executive of the North I Canterbury Hospital Board (Mr G. W. Davies) ! Mr Davies said that the

Health Department’s allocation of funds for the hospital provided for an additional cash allocation of $220,000, but this increase was less than expected and could not sustain an increase of staffing. “The board will continue to replace existing staff as I position became available. Areas of need will be assessed as they arise, and if additional staffing is shown to be necessary, this will be met by rearranging existing services and finance,” Mr Davies said . Sunnyside Hospital had ; overspent its budget in the I last financial year and because of this overtime had ibeen cut, said Mr Davies, j The medical superintendent of the hospital (Dr J. A. ■Begg) was looking at ways of making outpatient services more efficient. “Apprehension among staff” about staffing levels was clearly related to dis-!

cussions being held between senior nursing staff throughout. New Zealand and the Health Department, Mr Davies said. “There are proposals for a restructuring of nursing grades which, if implemented, could have repercussions for staff at senior levels.

“No graded nursing post would ever be disestablished by the board, and our policy is to match staffing numbers with the workload, however this is made up,” Mr Davies said. For some time the board has been advertising for a psvchopaedic nursing tutor for Templeton Hospital, but without success. The staff establishment there is for four tutors, and there are three appointed.

One was on maternity leave, Mr Davies said, and tutors from other areas of the board’s service had been filling the empty posts temporarily.