Hospital board cuts spending

Press, 11 August 1979, Page 22

Hospital board cuts spending

PA Wellington Wellington lost three hospital wards and a venereal-disease clinic this week. Nurses, doctors, and members of the public filled the seats at the back of the room and lined the walls as Wellington Hospital Board members made about $1.2 million worth of cuts in services and spending. The cuts they made were the culmination of about a month's debate and planning by the board and its institutions about how best to trim the budget by

the $l.B million specified by the Minister of Health (Mr Gair). Board members decided to close a 30-bed surgical ■ward at Wellington Hospital (for an estimated saving of $92,740 this year), a 22-bed pediatric ward at Hutt Hospital (estimated saving $50,470 this year), and an alcohol and drugdependency treatment ward at Porirua Hospital (estimated saving $144,000 this year). The venereal-disease clinic at Hutt Hospital will also go (estimated saving $6874 this year).