Wellington Hospital Commission

Dominion, Volume 31, Issue 241, 8 July 1938, Page 13

Wellington Hospital Commission

Sir, —In an interview with the chairman of the hospital board in reference to the likely outcome of the report of the Royal Commission, I regret to notice a reference, apparently both 'by Mr. Glover and also by your reporter, to party polities. For Mr. Glover to suggest, as reported, that “the members of the board who were apposed to Labour, would favour a hospital in the Hutt Valley, and wanted expenditure reduced in Wellington,” was an unfair view of the matter. The question of Labour or non-Labour does not arise, although your reporter goes on to ask “if Labour would, use its casting vote to carry the present scheme through.” The position is, Sir, that on the last decision of the old board the voting was 9-7 in favour of the £750,0CX) idea, the seven, including myself and Mrs. Blake, who are Labour members, and the nine including Mrs. McVicar and Miss Kane, who are non-Labour. Dr. Parr and Mr, Berry, who were also non-Labour, were absent.

■So far as I am aware all members of the board will vote in accordance with their own judgment in regard to the building proposals and the commission’s report, without regard to party. I was elected to support a hospital in the Hutt Valley first, together with convalescent, orthopaedic and T.B. units away from the Newtown site, and my efforts will definitely be in that direction.—l am, etc., A. H. GARMAN. Tawa Flat, July 6.

Sir, —Reviewing the remarks of the chairman of the Wellington Hospital Board and the report of the Royal Commission on the proposed building plan, it is obvious that the board has not been well advised in the requirements of the whole hospital. district, because the commissioners place the building of the Hutt Valley hospital before the building of the main block at the' Wellington Hospital. It must be obvious that New Zealanders must know their own requirements best, and it is evident that the Australian advisers did not weigh up correctly the weight of public opinion. It remains to be. seen whether the main hospital will be erected before the Hutt Valley hospital as recommended by the commissioners, and it will be interesting to see whether the fittings will be made in Australia, where many of the recent additions in the Wellington Hospital have come from. The present voting for the Hutt Valley hospital is approxiniately 12 votes to six.

The estimated cost of the whole scheme is £863,000, and add.ed to this is the possibility of an annual payment to the honorary staff on a part-time basis of £254)00. So the poor ratepayer is in for fresh taxation with • a vengeance. It must be obvjous that the control of the Wellington Hospital sadly needs . overhauling and the whole of the business side of the hospital put . under the charge of a managing secretary, and the purely medical sidp left to the medical superintendent and his staff. If salaries are to be paid, then the system of the London county hospitals should be adopted, namely, a full-time paid staff and specialists called in to do special cases at a fixed fee. The question of whether the State should not pay for all additions to public hospitals has been left untouched. —I am, etc., SOCRATES. Wellington, July 7.