HOSPITAL CONTROL

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 104, 3 May 1926, Page 11

HOSPITAL CONTROL

13 IT POLITICAL?

'ALL NONSENSE, THE MINISTER SAYS.

(By Telegraph.—Press Association.) /..AUCKLAND,.This Day,

In the course of remarks at the opening of the Home for Nurses at the Auckland Infirmary, the Hon. J. A. : Young said: " Our hospital board system has been described'as being politically controlled. It is under public control by elective boards under departmental supervision and assistance. It is a. true expression of our democratic free institutions. '•'■ There were able men in the Department, whose advice the Minister valued, and he declared that ho would not be beyond seeking outside assistance if that given by the departmental officers did not satisfy him. "The political control suggestion is all nonsense,;" Mr. Young declared. It had been suggested by the British Medical Association, and he would probably have something more to say in this connection this. week.. Mr. Young said, ho stood for welljnanaged institutions with entry, for. all, at all times! -He welcomed the advice of the medical profession and others interested in hospital administration. "■' ■' '■'■'•• Referring briefly to the question of honorary staffs, the Minister said he was not.going: to interfere Tvith the hospital boards as to whether they should have honorary or stipendiary staffs. He" had never attacked the honorary system. If aj board.felt it was better served with either one of the two systems, he was prepared to leave the question, to the boaTd^ itself. He had been accused .of not knowing his job, of being a■• sort of .demagogue, Mr. 'Young added;, but he was prepared to accept all the icriticism,: provided it •was fair. He'felt confident that the misunderstanding with the British Medical Association would be set right. All must work in unison. If they were going to quarrel among themselves in a carping spirit the hospitals must suffer. He issued a plea that all interested in the question should come and reason together, so that the best service could be given in the interests of humanity. (To th« Editor.) gi r> —As a layman one is at a loss to understand what influence is at present actuating our hew Minister of Health. Leaving out the merits of the question re hospitals, how comes it that a man, acknowledged to have hia share of common-sense and business knowledge, should make such signal error almost before he has assumed office1? Apparently he made his Huntly speech before ever having communicated with the B.M.A. to ascertain its views, and aggravated his- offence at Blenheim after the B.M.A. had explained his apparent error. ; Here was a Minister, newly appointed, with a very good hospital systembequeathed him by his predecessors, and in addition the projected visit of an eminent authority from America. Where was his good angel that, instead of benefiting by his position, he should run off at a tangent and put everybody by the ears. Is it that the Cabinet position has robbed him of his customary common-sence, or has he been badly advised by his Department? It is only to be'hoped that the mischief done is-not irremediable, and that the public's confidence in our public hospitals will not suffer.—l am, etc., --. ■■■. " ; . LAYMAN". ■•