CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2751, 20 April 1916, Page 3

CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL

THOSE VACANT WARDS

OTHER SIDE OF THE STORY V,

All is not yet oyer in connection with the question as to whether the two ■unoccupied upstairs wards in the Children's Hospital should be utilised for ophthalmic cases or not. There is a meeting of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board this afternoon, when some exchanges of ideas may pass. In connection with, the Rev. H. Van Staveren's report of the Attorney-General's attitude (reported yesterday) regarding the matter, Mr. H. Baldwin stated yesterday that the impression of the Hon. A. L. H'erdmau's attitude was hardly correctly conveyed, and he intended to make reference to ■ that matter' at tho meeting. Respecting the urgency of the need of the wards in question, Sir. Baldwin states without equivocation that he could not but agree with the broad principle, that jvhen a building is erected with'funds raised for, a specific object, it should not be used for any 1 ' other purpose, unless the circumstances are extraordinary, and Mr. Baldwin maintains that in this case they are. "It was in January lasb»" said Mr. Baldwin, "that Dr. Harty spoke to me' about the need for providing, room for ophthalmic patients. At the time we wei;e inspecting the site of , the'new Seddon Annexe, and afterwards we went to the Children's Hospital, and | after a look at tho empty wards (empty, ever pi nee the Hospital was built -five years ago), we consulted there and then with Mr. C. M. Luke, who agreed that we should recommend the use_ of the wards. Wa were strengthened in our intended,.action by Dr. Harty saying two days later that >if proper provision were not made for ophthalmio patients he . would decline to perform any more operations for cataract. ,At that- time the, General Hospital was absolutely overcrowded. One night in January iwo had to nse no fewer tlian 37 strotchers—in a General Hospital designed for 168 beds we had 205 patients. "The urgency for relief was .apparent—it, stared you in. the face, and as we considered that it was hardly a suitable time either to raise a loan oi make an. appeal to the public (other' uhan for patriotic purposes) we decided to recommend the 'temporary use of these wards, upstairs in tho Children's' Hospital—surely under the circumstances not an unreasonable way to meet the difficulty. That would immediately ; have relieved the congested General Hospital of from 20' to 24 beds, without interfering in the least degree with the Children's Hospital—as the upstairs wards are practically self-con-tained.

6 average number of patientß in the Children's Hospital in 1912-13 was 45.3, and in. 1915-16, 40.7, indicating no growth whatever in the number of patients offering. The architect of the Children's Hospital informs me that tho two .mam (downstairs) wards in that hospital were designed to accommodate 22 beds cach-44 in both. In addition to that there are four other rooms off the main hall capable of accommodating fiom 8 to 10 beds, in all, accommodation for from 52 to 54 beds—excluding' the sun-rooms (2) ! and To indicate that the.hospital is not overcrowded, here are the numbers of patients for the seven days of the week' ended March 15.:—19, 46, 45, 47 48, 49, 47. '

..As against this happy state of affairs the General Hospital has . been consistently over-crowded. Here is a | return of the number of stretchers (make-shift beds) we have had to use daily. On one day only ono was in use. On all other days tho number in use has ranged' from 5 to 38. "The idea of using the empty wards temporarily was purely a matter of expediency, and at times sentiment musl; give way to expediency."