CHILDREN'S NEEDS

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 6, 7 July 1938, Page 10

CHILDREN'S NEEDS

STATE OF HOSPITAL

"Much criticism has been levelled at the Children's Hospital, but we feel that it has many years' service in it yet .provided fcertairi requirements are fulfilled," ' the report • states. "The chief of these are the remodelling of the balconies and verandahs and the replacement of fixed windows by sliding windows of Whitney or similar type. The hedges and many of the shrubs and trees, especially to the north-east of the hospital, should be removed so as to allow freer access of sun and air and a high bank in this vicinity should be sloped back. To do this would require the co-operation of the trustees of the Home for the Aged Needy, but this help should be forthcoming. The courtyard of the hospital should ,be thrown open by the removal of the existing gates, laid down in grass, and thus made more attractive. A new schoolroom and sun deck should be constructed on the roof. We recommend that these requirements be fulfilled. The architect's estimate is £2630. This hospital should be reserved, as far as is : possible, for the treatment of subacute and chronic cases. I "Many chronic surgical cases, orthopaedic in character, requiring a stay in hospital often for months at a time, could be accommodated in a separate institution, which for preference should be situated by the seaside, e.g., Paekakariki or neighbourhood. This separate hospital could be constructed and run economically if the lessons to be learned from an inspection of the Children's Hospital at Frankston, near Melbourne, are properly applied. A hospital for the reception of chronic cases, such as described, should be cooperative on the part of the hospital boards of the southern part of the North Island and' of the northern part of the South Island, and a joint medical staff of orthopaedic surgeons from these hospitals could be appointed to supervise the work. This scheme is not one which need be carried out immediately, but it should be envis-1 aged and the necessary preliminary! steps taken for its establishment.