HOSPITAL PLANS

Evening Post, Volume CXXIII, Issue 100, 29 April 1937, Page 17

HOSPITAL PLANS

BEFORE LOANS BOARD

MAIN BLOCK, £465,000

THE NURSES' HOME

■ The proposals of the Wellington Hospital Board for the erection of extensive additions to the Public Hospital tp overcome the serious overcrowding in the existing buildings and also in ■the main Nurses' Home have reached the stage where plans have been prepared and submitted to the Loans Board with an application for authority to raise the money required for the additions. Sketch plans have also been submitted to the Department of Health and the Public Works Department.

The term "additions" is rather a misnomer, for the proposed buildings will constitute a new hospital for the treatment of short-term illnesses, accidents, and operation cases, and the existing wards, under the fully-developed scheme, will be used for convalescent and chronic patients. In its plans the Hospital Board has avoided anything of a temporary nature and has endeavoured to produce a final hospital scheme in keeping with the advances made in medical science and hospital research. The design for the proposad new Wellington Hospital is radically different from any existing building in the Dominion, as is apparent from a composite aerial view and architect's sketch which is published on today's illustrations page. The proposed block will dwarf the present building, for it will be more than 300 feet long, 40 feet wide, and five storeys in height. The lay-out is in the form of an arc, with the tips towards the north, to obtain the maximum sunshine, and from the arc two wings project, to north-east and north-west. THE LOWER FLOORS. . In the basement will be housed various appliances for heating and refrigeration, and the basement will be connected with the existing boiler-house, workshops, and laundry by means of a tunnel. The floor above the basement is, with the exception of one wing, wholly devoted to food services. In the central portion there is one large kitchen capable of supplying the food requirements for 1000 patients, and for the full medical and nursing staffs and the lay staffs for whom meals are to be provided. Dining-rooms are planned for the resident medical staff, the nursing staff, and sixty other staff members. ■ At the rear of the kitchen are cool stores and stores for all kitchen requirements. There is also a dietetic department where special foods are to be prepared, and a cookery school for. nurses. In the north-west wing there is a lecture room for the use of doctors and students, with the necessary accessory rooms. EACH WARD A COMPLETE UNIT. Above this floor is one containing the main entrance and administrative offices. On either side of these are wards with beds arranged in groups of fours and twos, and single rooms. Each ward is a complete unit with its own nurses' room, sterilising room, bathroom, and sinkroom. A small visitors' room will also be available for patients who arc-up,- or for visitors, who have to wait. Opposite the entrance is a large waiting hall for visitors, a much-needed innovation, ■ and attached to this hall there is a coffee stall, another welcome addition for those who have to wait any time. The rear portion of this floor will be used for the general stores, this being a large and very important department of the hospital. The three floors above are devoted entirely to patients, each ward again being, self-contained. The top floor is a most important one. On this are grouped the six main operating theatres, those for eye, ear, nose, and throat operations, orthopaedics and general surgery. . . Attached to these are anaesthetic rooms, patients' recovery rooms, instrument rooms, sterilising rooms, and other necessary parts. There are also the change rooms for the medical staff, the nursing staff, and students, for it must be remembered that in addition to curative work, one of the functions of the hospital is to train the doctors of the future. Another modern feature incorporated in the new building will be a central sterilising department, an innovation which can only be fully appreciated by those who have -to work with the present antiquated system. ." The remaining portion of this floor will be devoted to more hospital beds. The roof will be. flat and the lifts will go through to the roof, as it is hoped that some future effort will enable the board to have a complete orthopaedic unit in this ideal situation. This unit would consist of an orthopaedic pool, now regarded as essential in the after-treatment of sufferers from infantile paralysis, a group of twentyfour beds, the necessary dressingrooms, and proper schoolroom facilities. These children could then- be taught and nursed in the best possible position in the whole institution. The main block, without the orthopaedic section, is estimated to. cost £465,000. Built on modern lines, it will be an advance on any existing: hospital architecture in New Zealand. Modern lifts and the best heating and lighting systems will be installed. Every effort will be made to economise in the amount of labour required for nursing and cleaning. OVERCROWDED NURSES' HOME. -Gradual increases in the nursing staff have resulted in chronic overcrowding in the nurses' home. Plans have been prepared for a wing which will contain 130 single bedrooms, with the necessary'sitting-rooms, bathrooms, laundry, and other rooms. The main entrance of the home will be in this block and a modern lift will provide access to all floors and to the sun roof. The estimate of cost of this block is £79,750, a figure which has raised a good deal of criticism as being excessive. To such criticism the reply has been made that it is to be a large steel and concrete structure, with modern lift, steam heating, and other conveniences, and that it cannot be denied that after a full day's work among sick patient? a nurse should be given reasonable quarters, not only for sleeping, but for rest and study.. Furnishings and equipment are included in the estimate.

To provide steam for the additional buildings, the boiler-plant will have to* be augmented. Further consideration is being given to this important and intricate section, and the board has yet to determine whether extensive alterations to the existing plant will meet the situation, or whether a new boiler-house would, in the 'end prove to be the most economical. The present plant, though suitable up to a point, requires much to modernise it. Mechanical stokers with overhead bunkers and a proper plant for handling ashes are required, and these must be provided, whether as addition to the present plant or as part of a new system.