HUTT VALLEY

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

HUTT VALLEY

A SEPARATE UNIT

IMMEDIATE REQUIREMENTS

The report discusses whether it is desirable in the public interests that the board should. take steps to establish a general hospital in the Hutt Valley, and, if so, what should be the scope and nature of the facilities. "The Hospital Board has for some! years considered the question of providing adequate hospital services for the inhabitants of the Hutt Valley and of those areas the inhabitants of which would use these services," the Commission states. "The present position seems to be that the consideration of the question of establishing a subsidiary hospital in the Valley has been deferred until the proposed new hospital in the city has been completed. There is a good deal to be said in favour of this course, especially from ! the point of view of economy in exjpenditure. Treatment facilities of the required standard could not be provided at approximately equal cost by erecting a hospital in the Valley and reducing the proposed accommodation at' Wellington Hospital correspondingly. ; "It is contended, however, on behalf of those who would be served by u> creasing the hospital services in the Valley that it is inequitable to defer the consideration of the question. The Mayor of Lower Hutt says that the board's proposals hold out" no hope for the people of the Hutt, Valley. He also I says that'an enormous sum of money and much time is expended by relatives and friends visiting patients, and that at least £2000 a year is ex-

pended by outpatients from the Valley in payment of fares. CONTRIBUTION TO LEVY. "The Hutt Valley is so situated that it constitutes a separate unit in the hospital district. It has special industries and other special interests. The estimates of the population to be served by the establishment of hospital facilities in the Valley vary from 30,000 to 57,000, and we think that this population can be fixed as at least 40,000. This would be nearly onequarter of the population of the hospital district and it would, contribute nearly one-quarter of the total hospital levy." Reviewing the admissions to the j Wellington Hospital of patients from! the Hutt Valley and Eastbourne and the nature of their disabilities, the report states that a hospital of about 83 beds would be required at the Hutt. "Allowing for the probable increase of population and the possibility of transferring Hutt Valley sub-acute cases from the base hospital, the immediate erection of a 100-bed hospital in the Valley would on hospital needs be justified," it adds. "It is generally admitted'that there are certain minimum hospital facilities required immediately in the Hutt Valley area. These, however, from the point of view of public convenience and economic capital and maintenance expenditure, should if possible be so provided that they would form part of the local subsidiary hospital which it is agreed must sooner or later be established in the Valley. These are a 25-bed maternity hospital with accommodation for a matron and 18 maternity nurses, full-time out-patients, dental, and massage departments, with the necessary offices and services, and accommodation for district social welfare officers and six district nurses." The Hospital Board is recommended to take immediate steps to acquire a suitable site in the Hutt Valley, which is all the more important in view of the minimum requirements of the Valley. TYPE OF CONSTRUCTION. The report states that the estimates given by the board's architects of the cost of providing these minimum requirements were (1) in wood, £54,666; and (2) in reinforced concrete, £64,180. The architects were also asked to estimate the cost of erecting (1) in wood, and (2) in reinforced concrete a 100----bed general hospital together with a 25----bed maternity hospital, the services to be provided to be sufficient for a 225----bed hospital and being those only which could not reasonably be supplied from the base hospital. The estimates are (1) in wood, £149,417; and (2) in reinforced concrete, £185,781. In the case of both the minimum requirements and the general and maternity hospital the building would be of the pavilion type. The advantages and disadvantages of timber construction as against those of reinforced concrete construction are discussed by the Commission, which states: "After considering the advantages and disadvantages of using these constructional materials and taking into consideration that a building in reinforced concrete* would cost only £36,364 more than one in wood we are of the opinion that if a hospital is to be established in the Valley it should be constructed in reinforced concrete. If the present proposals of the Hospital Board were given effect to without modification, the inhabitants of the Hutt Valley and adjoining areas would continue to have, in our opinion, a well-grounded grievance. It is in the public interest that grounds for this grievance should be removed and that in hospital matters the representatives of all sections of the community should deliberate in harmony. "We therefore recommend the immediate establishment of a combined subsidiary general hospital and maternity hospital in the Hutt Valley at an estimated cost of £185,781 and the price of the site for it. It would contain the accommodation and facilities already indicated herein. The operating theatre and services connected with it would be such that major operations could be performed. Cases requiring the specialised treatment afforded by the Wellington Hospital would be treated there. The hospital would be under the control of the superintendent of the Wellington Hospital, and as mucK of the administrative office work as possible would be done in Wellington. The laundry would be served by the Wellington Hospital and any post mortem examinations made there."