Hospital staff wish to sell alcohol

Press, 23 August 1984, Page 27

Hospital staff wish to sell alcohol

PA Auckland Plans by Auckland Hospital staff to sell liquor in hospital grounds have upset the anti-liquor abuse group, Grogwatch. The Auckland Hospital staff recreation centre has asked the Auckland Hospital Board for approval to apply for a liquor licence. But board members referred the issue to its own alcohol workers for comment before making a decision. A Grogwatch spokesman, Mr Donald Macleod, said the plan was “staggering” and anomalous considering the alcohol abuse problem confronting New Zealand society. He was pleased that the board had sought expert opinion before making a decision. Board members were told that the viability proposed centre would rely

heavily on a liquor licence. Mr Macleod said it was sad to see a hospital recreation club falling into the trap of believing a liquor licence was essential for profitability. The board’s chairman, Dr Frank Rutter, said this showed what a stranglehold liquor had on society. He said he did not oppose drinking, but was against the sale of liquor on the campus of a hospital. "I would find it difficult to justify in the light of the stand the Hospital Boards Association is taking against the irresponsible use of alcohol,” he said. The chairman of the staff centre society’s committee, Mr Kevin Holmes, said that if the board thought its staff responsible enough to care for sick patients it should also consider them responsible enough not to drink on duty.