Decision over course delay defended

Press, 15 September 1988, Page 5

Decision over course delay defended

Advising applicants for the Canterbury Hospital Board enrolled nursing programme that their course might be deferred was a responsible action by the board’s administration, said the chairwoman of the health services committee, Mrs June Gardiner, yesterday. Applicants had to be advised not to give up one job in order to take a place on the course in case the course was postponed as a cost-cutting measure, she said. Mrs Gardiner was responding to comments by another board member, Mr David Close, that applicants should not have been informed because

the board had not made a decision on the future of the course. “It would have been appropriate for the acting general manager to bring the matter to one of the board committees — I feel that we have to ’ be careful that we don’t as a board find that our decisions are pre-empted,” said Mr Close. The board’s chief nurse, Mrs Brenda Wilson, said that deferring the course was one of the proposals that would be put before the board at a special meeting later this month on cost-cutting. “In fairness to applicants who were expecting

to hear in October confirmation (of their acceptance for the course), it was decided that a letter go out to them advising that the board would be considering the future of the course,” said Mrs Wilson. "If we left it until the board made the decision it would have been too late — many people would have given notice to their current employer.” Postponing the course was a better option than training 60 people and saying only at the end of the course that there were no jobs available, Mrs Wilson said.