A MANDATE FOR HOSPITAL REFORM

Dominion, Volume 24, Issue 189, 8 May 1931, Page 8

A MANDATE FOR HOSPITAL REFORM

An unmistakable mandate to . reform the administration of Wellington Hospital has been placed by the electors in the hands of Dr. Campbell Begg, Dr. Macdonald Wilson, Mr. A. T. Markman, and Mr. J. C. Riddell. These gentlemen came‘forward with a definite policy to reorganise the hospital to secure efficiency with economy, and their programme has received a remarkable public endorsement. They comprise four out of the five new members elected to the Board. All four polled exceptionally well, but the vote of the two medical men was outstanding. Not only did they top the poll in their own section, but each received more votes than any other candidate for any municipal office, including the Mayoralty. Dr. Campbell Begg’s total’ was over 60 per cent, of all votes polled. Dr. Macdonald Wilson did almost as well. Medical practitioners standing for hospital boards are generally supposed to be handicapped by popular suspicion of their motives but in this case the public has been impressed as much by the good faith and disinterested spirit of the candidates as by the positive nature of their proposals. It may be expected that the express and overwhelming verdict of the electors on Dr. Campbell Begg’s reorganisation scheme will be given due weight by the new Board and that he will be supported in his plans for administrative reforms. A representative body cannot ignore the plain mandate of its electorate and surely would not wish to do so, especially as the pdlicy it is asked to accept is eminently practical and economical, and promises to give greater institutional efficiency while returning better service to patients. Moreover there would be the credit of initiating an improved organisation that might well make the Wellington Hospital a model for other institutions to copy.