ST. HELENS HOMES

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 44, 20 August 1930, Page 3

ST. HELENS HOMES

a' new departube

Several new aspects, of the. Sfc, Helens Maternity Home question ar< raised in an official report of Dr. H, Jellett, consulting obstetrician, addressed to the Director-General o? Health. The most important of these; departures is the' suggestion to amalgamate St. Helens maternity, home* with other institutions; He says:

The New St. Helens Hospitals.-* There is one other matter_to which, I) must refer, because it' is intimately) connected with some of the most im* portant suggestions which I haye mad* to you from time to time. So-lony ago as 1925 I urged the importance _o£ creating in the large centres maternity] hospitals of sufficient size to develop into really good: training schools for, midwivesand medical students, an^ into post-graduate school for medical practitioners. At the time an opportunity was present of creating such .a, no*, pital in Wellington. It was, however,, unfortunately lost in ,spite of the e£» forts of the Department, largely owing to the fact that the trustees of tha Alexandra Home thought their single, eirls might not be so well looked aftefl in an enlarged St.. Helens Hospital, Now, a similar scheme is on the verge, of successful accomplishment in Christ, church. A site has been obtained. An agreement of amalgamation- of the Essex Home and the St. Helens Hospital has been arrived at. The. careful work; of the technical side of your Department has produced, after much consideration, plans for an hospital of the best type. At the last moment opposition has again developed, but this time on ground the exact reverse of those brought forward in Wellington. The opposers of the scheme consider that the presence of the ■ single; girls will overthrow the object to which, the St. Helens Hospitals were created. At the same time, and, so. far as 1 know, with the approval of many o| the people who oppose the Christchurch, scheme, the Government is being urges to adopt a similar course in Dunediu« It is proposed, and I understand decided, to create in this centra a larg« maternity hospital which will eHbrace; the existing St. Helens and"the Bachelor Home. It is thus clear that th«j curious position has arisen V*t aj scheme, opposed in Wellington on certain grounds, is opposed in Christchurch on grounds that are clireetlyj opposite, while an identical scheme i«; received with general approval in Dun« e3in< .'■.,.■ . -;" , In addition to this, opposition hai been started to the teachinglof .medical students in the St. Helens Hospitals of Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland. At the same time no objection of which I have heard has been received to the teaching of medical students in either the present St. Helens Hospital in Dunedin or. in its enlarged successor. ■ " '<, I am sure that much of the opposition which has been raised is due tai insufficient knowledge of the necessities of the case. If you could bring home to the general public the f ac«, that much of the improved teaching-, which should result from the rearrangement of the obstetrical side of the Dun. edin Medical School, will be lost littles* at the same time full facilities are provided for clinical work, I believe all real opposition would cease. At thflj same time, it would be well to emphasisp the fact that the new hospital at Dunedin cannot provide all the faeili* ties that are wanted.. . - ■