HOSPITAL CONTROL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 761, 9 March 1910, Page 10

HOSPITAL CONTROL.

COMING ELECTION. RETROSPECT BY HON. C. M. LUKE. The passing of the old order in hospital administration and the inauguration of the new occasioned 1 some interesting remarks by the chairman of the Wellington Hospital Trustees (Hon. C. M. Luke, M.L.C.) and some of-his colleagues at yesterday's meeting of that body. "Wo have'reached a new epoch," said the chairman. "We have been working so far under the conditions laid down' by the Act of 1885, which was passed at a time when theneeds of this district in regard to hospital administration were small as compared with what they are now." He recalled, the first meeting, which was held for the purpose of appointing trustees for the hospital. He was one of the first- members, and, looking at a copy of the first issue of by-laws-dnted 1886—he noticed that it contained the names of many who were nowabsent from the board, but some who were still among the community here. There was Mr. F. H. Fraser, a gentleman who did splendid service in connection with the hospital, and was chairman' for about 15 years. The next name was that of Dr. Newman, the present Mayor''of the city, and then came the late Mr.' S. Danks. There had been an unbroken chain of Dankses on the board from that time, Mr. Danks, senior, having been succeeded by his son, the present member. The next name was that of Mr. H. Gaby, who ..afterwards ■became secretary to the trustees,- and was now in England. v 'Vai'ue of•'Continuity.

His own name was next on the,list, and ho thought he might'say; that the tost service he -had rendered had oeenin connection with the, institution ot which lie was the present chairman. (Hear, hear.) There was a break of about two years in his period .as a trustee. -jSo other.work had appealed to him so strongly, and he had marked the growth of the institution with pride. He thought it had been fortunate in. having •a continuity of stewardship, on the part of many of the members of the board, which had been the lot of few institutions in the Dominion.. .Many of the present members had- served for a considerable number of years., Mr.lvirk had been one of the trustees, for JO years, almost continuously. The board hid had onlv three chairman— Mr! Cser, Mr. Webb (for two years only), , and himself. /He had .been chairman for seven or eight years. The fact that ■ during the whole of its history, since 1885,' the board had had only three chairmen indicated the hearty measure of the .suppoH'and co-operation which the successive chairmen had always had from the members of the board. Homo of the past members had gone to their long home, and some had left the citv, but there was one other among them whom he would like to mention—Mr. G. M ' Kebbell, who had lor many years ceased to'act on the board. Proceeding, Mr. Luke recalled the. time -when the Hospital had only 50 or 60 patients, and something like 15 nurses, and said that as he looked round the institution now, and noted its growth, and.the beauty of its appearance, which was a thing of joy, and was •remarked ; upon .by ■ nearly all the visitors to; the city, ■ he' felt that the members of- the Board ; of Trustees were entitled to'a very- great. deal of credit.. , '• ■ ••'■' ■• ..... . ( The Last Nine Months.;

The chairman went on.to review 'the work of the last nine months, and to compare.it with the like period of-last year. He mentioned with '.'.- satisfaction that the housekeeping expenses, of the Hos-. pital, or goods for consumption, were less by £559 than for last year.. The drug account i was also less' by .£459. Under the heading, of furniture,; clothing, bedding, and crockery, .£1297 was spent last year,. whilsti.ohly JGB2S was required for the period under- review. Additions were .substantially.'.less. Salaries were normal,, likewise were repairs. Water was an in-; 'creased amount, due to the installation, of a freezing plant. Wages were. about £250 higher, due to tho.renovation.of all the wards, Victoria Hospital, andSeddon Annexe, and extra wages paid for bak-. iag,' a work .not previously .undertaken by the institution. .The total saving for the nine months amounted-to £1309 14s. id. /The number of. patients treated- to date'exceeded by lit .the'number of last year.'; The amount, of. recoveries from in-patients, to March 7, which left three weeks to the end of i the year, was £3114 105.,'-' which was the greatest amount yet received by the Hospital.:. The previous periods, which were progressive, amounted in 1907-8 to £2626 19s. 4d.,:and..'in 1908-9 to £3031 ißs. .. .;;, .;..:';:,;. .:.' ~-, „.. '

The Fee's Difficulty. .''..'•'■•'" The chairman next referred to ] the payments for in-pjtients, and alluded to recent criticisms on the subject'.- Such patients -were usually admitted on the recommendation' of a medical man. ,They might agree to pay, but when they came out they would give some reason' for not paying, or they would sometimes promise to pay by instalments, but would be unable to do so, or they would leaye the city and the board would be.unabl'e to trace them. It was a very perplexing task to compel such, people tp'i'ulijl their obligations. It was sometim'es, said • that people in business did not make so many bad debts, but the cases were, quite different. Most of the patients were below' the border line of those who could afford to pay for treatmimt in their own homes,. Most of the money collected, from patients came from the'artisan class,.and the great bulk of the patients were of the labouring class, a class from which it was exceedingly difßcult. to-get money'for any purpose. He'was.persuaded that every efi'ort had been made to get .the people to pay. In some cases when the trustees thought people were shuffling they had taken the matter to the court, and had sometimes won and sometimes lost. Even'when they won cases they did hot always get themoney. There were some people w*ho would always manage to' get out of paying their lawful debts, and those were the ones they would like to get at. The payment of the hospital bill was as important as the payment. of the grocer's bill, or any other "bill. [ - ' Comparative Cost.' The following table, showing the cost per occupied bed in the four principal hospitals ot the Dominion, was read by Mr. i,uke:—' *' c ■'-..•■ Auck'd. 'W'Bt'n. ( Dun d n. Oh'ch. '■.' £ s.d. . £ s.d. £ s.d. ■.-.£ s.d. Provi- .... .-.-'■ sions... 26 7 '2 20 171 27.9 5 .29 7 2 Alcohol...- 0 8.6 .0.9 7.0 .7 1 15; 6 Drugs.. etc. .*.: 813 6 5 13 4 9 9 6 13 7 0 Domestic establish- V . ment... 25 7 0 17 7 9 30 14 4 . 29 17 10 Salaries 30 12 3 '36 13 1 36 9 10 61 5 4 In explanation of. one item in this table, Mr. Luke, said, an account of .£4O alcohol at the Wellington Hospital should

have, been charged to the previous year. The hoard had paid such salaries as to lead to the closest application to duty, and had observed rigid economy. The Coming Election. He hoped, for the sake of the institution, and the district,' that a largo 'proportion of the present members, indeed, lie would say all of them, would be elected to the new board. This was important in view of the works that were now in progress. People Wonder Why.

Mr. R. C. Kirk expressed appreciation of the chairman's review of the history of. the board, and added a tribute to his success as chairman. He (the speaker) was first elected to tie board in 1899 and the history of the hospital since that time had been one of continuous development. People sometimes expressed wonder that some men should give so much of their time to public work "for nothing," but it was not" for nothing, because there was an intense satisfaction in doing such work to the best of one's ability. He recalled that it was a suggestion of his that prevented the nurses' home bciug built on the flat and caused the top of the hill to be cut off.; He had long maintained that more could be done in the collection of maintenance money, if officers of _ higher' efficiency were employed and special efforts made. That policy had been adopted by the Finance Committee with improved results. He echoed the chairman's hope that the new board would include a large proportion of -the present trustees.

A "Decent Funeral" Wanted. Mr. F. T. Moore, speaking as one.of the youngest members, said he had come to the board to find fault, but had been satisfied that the management of , the trustees had been excellent, and the'services of the staff had been .highly efficient. The chairmanship of Mr. Luke was entitled to be marked in a greater manner than by the remarks that would be made at that meeting. The. services of Mr. Kirk also had been of-great' value, and the same might be said of all the other members. No. better body: of men could bo found for the new board than the present trustees. The Hospital was the most, efficiently, and •economically managed institution of its kind in the Dominion. He thought the trustees should have some sort of valedictory functionsome "decent funeral"—and "it. might be well to hold it in: conjunction, with the new board, after.the election; as it would then, no doubt, bo a very profitable meeting. .; MS : ' . .-' The chairman: We will see if your remarks bear fruit. Mr. J. W.. M'Ewan suggested that a photograph of the present.trustees should be taken, and'a copy presented to' the' chairman. ■. The chairman deprecated the idea of any presentation to himself, . but acquiesced in the proposal to have a group photograph taken. The board then; went into committee. .