AUCKLAND HOSPITAL.

Dominion, Volume 1, Issue 140, 7 March 1908, Page 6

AUCKLAND HOSPITAL.

UNDERSTAFFED AND OVERCROWDED.. , (BY'.IEbEGBAnt—SPECIAL. CORBESFONDENT.) - • 1 ' . L Auckland, March 6. The statements made by members of the Trades . and . Labour Council regarding the treatment of. a girl at the :hospital have been' broadly contradicted in several quarters. . The Chairman -of , tho • honorary medical staff says the facts were, that tho girl was suffering from a complaint which was in 'no way. urgent.' The patient had had a bath -and had v gone : to be. before she was 'informed of/ : the difficulty. Sho expressed'no resontmerit. To say that she was turned out of bed "and ordered out of tho hospital there and then" is a gross perversion of fact. The further statement: that a young girl was sent to the ' hospital by the Health Officer and sent away again to die was, so far-as ho was aware, untrue. He added : "There are. 214 patients in .the hospital, while there is only accommodation-really for 180. We are understaffed, and the buildings aro not properly arranged;, During the last three years we liavo been .working nnder very disadvantageous the overcrowding ; oi course , boing' worseat present, owing to the fever outbreak. In many ways we are making use of makeshift arrangements until tho Hospital Board .can/see its .way to improve tho buildings and provide more accommodation for patients,, and'also the -nursing, staff."