Chathams visit defended

Press, 25 January 1989, Page 9

Chathams visit defended

Seven representatives of the Canterbury Hospital Board visited the Chatham Islands on Saturday to open new hospital extensions and pay tribute to the missionary sisters who staff the hospital.

A correspondent to “The Press,” Mr Richard Clough, has questioned why the board, in times of financial constraint, spent $3815 to send eight board members to the Chatham Islands.

“In addition, the flight schedule, which normally allows a turn-around of less than an hour, was altered to allow them to attend the midday opening and return the same day.”

The chairman of the board, Mr Tom Grigg, said last evening that only four board members went to the islands.

The other members of the seven-person delegation were the medical superintendent-in-chief, the chief nurse and the acting general manager. Members of the board regularly visited board institutions but the last visit to the Chatham Islands hospital was about four years ago, Mr Grigg said. “The cost of going for a single day was far less than spending three days there, which is the usual between-flights time, and having to pay for accommodation and meals."

The party went on Saturday to avoid seven people being away from work for three days, Mr Grigg said.

While on the Chatham Islands, board members inspected and formally opened a $540,000 extension to the hospital, he said.

“An even more important reason for the visit was that it was the fortieth anniversary of. the Missionary Order of the Sisters of Mary who have three sisters staffing the hospital. We were paying tribute to them.”

Mr Grigg said he was confident the board had been “absolutely right” in sending a delegation to the Chatham Islands. “We feel it was a very worth-while trip to part of the board’s constituent area.”

At the board’s finance committee meeting last week, a board member, Mr Cyril Whitty, said it was necessary for a delegation to go to the islands.

“We save a tremendous amount of money with the sisters there — if we had to have a full staff there it would cost us thousands.”