HOSPITALS

Dominion, Volume 17, Issue 283, 16 August 1923, Page 8

HOSPITALS

AMENDING LEGISLATION X NEW SCALE OF SUBSIDIES The Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Amendment Bill was introduced in the House of Representatives last night. Notice is to be given to the Alinister of the appointment of medical and other officers, and a list of applicants must be forwarded. The Minister may submit to the board for its guidance such reports and recommendations as he thinks fit, and the board shall give due consideration thereto. Section 38 of the principal Act, relating to subsidies is amended. The section deals with the subsidies to boards in respect of moneys received. The section, as amended, provides that the subsidy shall not exceed £1 (instead of 10s.) for every £1 of bequests, £1 (instead of 245.) for every £1 of voluntary contributions, or gifts, other than bequests, subsection 3. which provided that the subsidy shall not exceed £5OO in respect to the estate of a single testator, is to be repealed. Finances of Boards. Boards are to furnish estimates of receipts and expenditure, the estimates to include deficiency in revenue for the preceding year. There is a clause, providing for the apportionment of net estimated expenditure among the contributory .local authorities, in proportion to the capital value of tlie rateable property in each district, as determined by the Valuer-General. Powers are provided for the recovery of contributions. The amount of unpaid contributors may be deducted from subsidies payable to the contributory authority. The 'xmtributory local authority may pay its contribution out of ordinary funds, or may raise a special rate for the purpose. In case of a deficiency in the board’s estimate of capital expenditure, the board may make a supplementary estimate and apportionment. In case of deficiency in the estimate of maintenance expenditure, the Alinister may advance the amount on account of subsidy for the follow year. Disqualification. ■An amendment is proposed in the disqualification clause. > The clause as proposed to fie amended will disqualify anyonfe concerned or interested (otherwise than a member of an incorporated company, in which there are more than 20 members, and of which he is not a general manager or a local manager) in regard io contracts made with a board. In the Alunicipal Act the words were “director or general manager.” Private Hospital.

Private hospital is defined in the Bill- as any house in which “one or snore patients are received.” The Main Act had it “two or more patients are received, and lodged at the same time.” Tlie annual license fee is notjto exceed £5 ; at present it is only 10s. An addition is made to the revocation of license clause. A license can be revoked if the private hospital is insufficiently equipped. A new subsection has been added to section 118, providing that “for every licensed medical and surgical hospital of which the manager is a registered medical practitioner, there shall, in addition to the manager, be at all times resident on the premises of the hospital a registered nurse; and for every Licensed maternity hospital of which the manager is a registered medical practitioner, there shall, in addition to the manager, be at sll times resident on the premises of the hospital a registered midwife ; and for every hospital which is licensed both as a maternity hospital and as a medical and surgical hospital, and of which the manager is a registered medical practitioner, there shall, in addition to the manager, be at all times resident on the premises of ihe hospital a registered nurse, who is also a registered midwife or a registered nurse and a. registered midwife.” Records are to be kept as to the use of anaesthetics, and as to temperature charts. For false entries a penalty up to £5O is provided. A. licensee or manager is to have the right of referring to the Board of Health matters affecting the administration of the Principal Act. There is a new schedule in regard to subsidies payable to hospital boards, in respect of maintenance expenditure. Subsidies to Boards. The levy made by any board for maintenance purposes on, its contributory local authorities shall consist of the sum of—(a) An amount equal to sixteen-for-rieths of the net estimated expenditure of the board for maintenance purposes; and (b) An amount bearing to four-for-tieths of the net estimated ex-t. penditure for maintenance purposes of all boards during the preceding year the same proportion as the capital value of the rateable property in the district of the board in question bears to the capital value of the rateable property in all hospital districts.

If the levy for any year, determined in accordance with the foregoing .Pp 0 " visions, is more than twenty thirtyfourths of the net estimated expenditure of the board for maintenance purposes for that year, the amount of the lew shall lie reduced accordingly to twenty thirty-fourths of such net estimated expenditure. . If the levy for any year, determined in accordance with the foregoing provisions, is less than twenty fortysixths 'of the net estimated expenditure of the board for maintenance purposes for that year, the amount of the levy shall be increased accordingly to twenty forty-sixths of such net estimated expenditure. The subsidy payable to any board In respect of its maintenance expenditure shall be the difference between its net estimated expenditure for maintenance purposes and the levy determined in accordance with the foregoing rules. The rate of subsidy is the amount of subsidy payable in respect of eacb £1 of lew. . , Ihe subsidy payable in accordance with the foregoing rules shall be payable in the first place at a rate calcu-i-ited to the nearest penny per pound nf lew and'all adjustments necessary to give full effect to the provisions herein shall bo made as soon as practicable thereafter ,