WELLINGTON HOSPITAL.
ITS COST COMPARED WITH SYDNEY. By Telegraph-Press AGSociation-Oopyrieht Sydney, September 21. The superintendent of the Prince Alfred Hospital, in appealing for funds, makes tho following comparison between his hospital and that at Wellington:— Prince Alfred. Wellington. Occupied beds 331 223 Average stay (days) 2i i 29 Out-patients. ...... 21,817 421G Cost .£26,011 1, £27,105 The superintendent of the Prince Alfred Hospital says he favours management by a board in preference to New Zealand's method of supervision by an inspector of charities.
A MISLEADING COMPARISON. Dr. H. Hardwick Smith, medical superintendent of tho Wellington Hospital, states that the figures given in the above cablo message by no means afford an accurate comparison between tho position of the Wellington and Prince Alfred Hospitals. To begin with, the i! 27,000 sot down as tho cost of Wellington Hospital represents the total exnendituro for the year 1909-10, and includes a sum of over .£7OOO charged to capital account and spent in erecting uow buildings, etc. The Wellington Hospital's nnnual maintenance cost should therefore bo under ,£20,000, as against .£26,011 for Prince Alfred Hos. pital. Then with regard to the length of the average stay—29 days hero as against 21 days at Princo Alfred—the reason for this difference becomes obvious vrhon one remembers that Wellington Hospital has an incurables' homo and a colony of consumptive annexes attached to it, while Prince Alfred Hospital deals merely with the ordiuary hospital work. Excluding the consumptives and incurables, tho average stay of tho patients at Wellington Hospital is 21 days, exactly the same as the Sydney figure. It is also necessary to bear in mind that the superintendent of Princo Alfred Hospital is quoting Ins figures for this vnar against tho Wellington figures for the venr ending on March 31, 1010. For the 1910-11 year the average number of occupied beds in Wellington Hospital was 243, and the number of out-patients over 5000, including somo 17,000 attendances.
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Bibliographic details
Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1239, 22 September 1911, Page 5
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320WELLINGTON HOSPITAL. Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1239, 22 September 1911, Page 5
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