New bed allocations for pregnant women

Press, 8 May 1980, Page 3

New bed allocations for pregnant women

A new system of allocating beds for expectant women at the Christchurch Women’s Hospital will be tried by the North Canterbury Hospital Board for six months. The closing of Essex Maternity Hospital at the end of June has forced the establishment of a new system. Last year 536 children were bom at Essex Hospital. The new system at the Christchurch Women’s Hospital will allow the maximum number of “open” beds decided on by a committee for general practitioners’ patients. A thousand bookings a year, or 84 a month, have been set aside for such patients. The board’s health-services committee will investigate the possibility of increasing this figure to 1200 beds a year, or 104 a month. The committee will report on this next month.

The medical superinten-dent-in-chief of the board Dr R. A. Fairgray, said the number of “open” beds agreed to represented a compromise solution to a complex problem. It meant that about half of all obstetric bookings would be reserved for general practitioners' patients. A committee would meet every two weeks to consider applications for “open” beds. Pregnant mothers should know definitely by the sixth month of their pregnancy if they had been allotted a' bed. Two board members, Mesdames Caroline Cartwright and Mollie Clark, said the new system showed scant regard for the wishes of patients. Mrs Cartwright said restrictions on the number of “open” beds would v deny many mothers the right to have their own 'doctor in attendance. A total of about

2500 children had been born annually at Christchurch. Women’s Hospital and Essex Hospital for some years and on this basis at least 104 “open” beds a month should be provided. The closing of Essex Hospital will be discussed by the Hospitals' Advisory Council early next month. Approval for the closing is expected from the Minister of Health (Mr Gair) after this. \ The board has rejected proposals for other uses of Essex Hospital because it says it would cost' too much to renovate the building for any other type of hospital use. :

Dr Fairgray said a proposal to use it as a day hcspital for geriatric patients" had been rejected on- grounds of cost and because it-: would have separated elderly patients from : the -support services of a basb iwgtal.