Health service may expand

Press, 19 August 1982, Page 6

Health service may expand

Health services might be “moderately expanded” to take up $1.17 million in underspent funds by the North Canterbury Hospital Board. The board's finance committee was told yesterday that wages accounted for most of the underspending — $899,000 in the four months to July 31. The underspending represented 2.7 per cent of the board’s budget, and could not be considered excessive, said the director of finance, Mr D. B. Herman.

“Although it is too early to see any trends, I believe we can be allowed to increase our activities to a moderate extent,” he said.

The board’s chief executive, Mr R. I. Parker, said that the overspending looked to be large in figures, but was only a small percentage of the board’s budget. One year ago the board was about $750,000 overspent. Cost-cutting measures introduced since then had reversed the overspending trend.

The neurosurgery unit had now opened and this would help level the overspending, he said.

The chairman of the board, Mr T. C. Grigg, said that its financial standing was "satisfactory,” but warned that the full costs of medical treatment during winter had not yet shown in the figures.