FOR A BETTER SYSTEM

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 76, 31 March 1931, Page 8

FOR A BETTER SYSTEM

A valuable and coiislruclivo contribution to the discussion of hospital affairs was made by Dr. Campbell Begg in his address Lo llie RaLepayers' Association lasL niglil. Dr. Begg has made a special study of hospital organisation, and his criticism of the Wellington system is based upon comparison of ihe methods and results with those of well-organised institutions in oilier parts of the world. The criticism he voiced, though strong and direct, was not petty. He advocated efficiency as a means to economy, and this efficiency, he urged, was. lo be secured by a complete'rearrangement of the methods of management. He did not suggest that the' Hospital Board should be more attentive lo detail than it is now—that it should weigh out supplies and superintend the work of every probationer —but that it should delegate the superintendence of details to officers and entrust them with responsibility. The Board should be concerned with general policy, and that it might be qualified to frame this policy on sound lines, it should be advised by special committees composed of members who would have the time and the capacity lo investigate the departments under their control. In other words, Dr., Begg advised decentralisation. He was confident that this would lead to greater efficiency, and an increase in elliciency would surely produce economy. , The public, we are sure, will appreciate the soundness of the system Dr. Begg proposed, and the public can help ■lo make it effective by returning lo the Hospital Board members who' will be competent to work on the committees on which the responsibility for carrying out. this policy will devolve; without men of capacity for the committees the system cannot be brought into effective operation.