PORIRUA MENTAL HOSPITAL.

Dominion, Volume 3, Issue 914, 6 September 1910, Page 3

PORIRUA MENTAL HOSPITAL.

; •;• /'MEDICAL SUPERINTENDENT'S'.':'-, ] - : 7 7 .'/.., . -EBPORT.■.•■■,;.'•;.'{ ; V'i .■'■'• POSITION,VIEWED, WITH SOME 7 v ; ;.v-'■>■■.'■:£NXlETT.' 7; ..■'■;. -The'.report 'of: the medical superintendent of the Porirua Mental Hospital, em-' tlie report of the. mental xhos•pltals'of ,'ffie'.Dominion,■'Btates that''the total number of patients under; care:on June 6 .Avail .861, andjthe average ;number resident was G53 (350 males and .303 females).- -Leaving .out of .'account, the -.transfers,!.'..the'..'admissions amounted to .176,7 bt : whom;" 3a; were,. Eighty-four, patients 'were 'discharged re,covered,.:a {ratio of 47/? ; per: cent, to the inumber admitted; while'4o died,'making a'death-rate''of a little over 6 per. cent.' of the- avorage." number' resident.'..'. : .As/compared "with previous year the above,'figures show :an increase of 40. patients .in : the average; number resi-dent,;-and an o!7about: .20 per cent, in' the number.' admitted. 7" This, however, 'may,',be: partly accounted, for'.:, by,: the lof r ,the! admissions, to' the';.'sister : - institution 1 at Mount View in . anticipation. of., its being: closed. ; .. In re- 1 Viewing statistics', and comparing' one year with another, it has. been-impossible in tho' ; past to come to any,. definite'condii--sions," owing to the'.■ fact that', the-dis-tricts served by-Porirua and the mental hospital-at Mount View have had no definite dividing-line.-7. ' ■ 7 The superintendent "states that he" anticipates a largo increase, in the admissions -in the ; immediate future—at any rate,;. Until -the ■new':mental. hospital -in the.' north is:, established'..and ready .to receive 'patients..;' With the. disappearance .' of ■ Mount View Mental Hospital the district .which the.Porirua institution ; . will: serve will comprise' the whole: of the North Island /excepting the Auokland province; as' we'll- as Marlborough in the; south,; : The' superintendent/views ; the position .with some anxiety. The wards at: Porirua; are already full, notwithstanding the recent additions' to the ao-' commodaiion, which unfortunately ■' will befullv 'occupied' by the patients from ;H6unt View the last of 'them come, from there. "Our position will then be that .we shallhave upwards of forty patients more than, we have convenient accommodation • for, : and I- fear that the position 'will, be; considerably accentuated before-the end of the year ,1910," 'says the superintendent. ' , The general physical health - of -the patients; has been .:satisfactory,- and no serious accident has occurred excepting in the' case of a. female :patientfwho caped in: June, and waß found drowned about three weeks 7afterwards. 7