VISITORS TO HOSPITAL

Evening Star, Issue 22595, 12 March 1937, Page 8

VISITORS TO HOSPITAL

WAITING ROOM PROVISION CONSTRUCTION WORK PROCEEDING Among the improvements under the new bunding scheme at the Dunedin Hospital is provision for the accommodation of visitors waiting for the wards to be opened to them on visiting days. This accommodation will be warmly welcomed, as at present visitors have to wait in the open, in fine weather or wet. From the main hall of the new administration block, a wide passage runs back to connect with another new corridor, built to make the servery distribution of the hospital more efficient. This' passage has been widened, and beaters have been installed, and when it is finished it will be used as a waiting room for visitors. The corridor is in the centre of the whole hospital block. A big building programme has been carried out at the hospital at the rear of the administration block and away from the public view. The major work has been the erection of a new lecture theatre, tor seat 150 students and nurses. The theatre is very modern in design, and a great improvement on the theatres in the Medical School. The arrangements are very compact and the demonstrator will not require to raise his voice to be heard in' the top rows, while the students will have a clear view of the subject. Underneath the gallery, pathological specimens dealing with the subject on which lectures are given will be displayed. The new theatre was built by a fund to which the Medical Faculty, the University Council, and the Hospital Board contributed.

A second and larger theatre on the northern side of the “ waiting ” corridor is projected, while towards Cumberland street a pew linen store and sewing room are to be built. A dressing room for doctors using the operating theatre is to be built alongside the proposed second lecture theatre. The reconstruction at the Hospital has increased the efficiency and ease of administration. The new administration block has been , most favourably commented on by visitors interested in hospital control, but it is considered desirable that the erection of the projected buildings at the rear should be expedited. Plans are now being prepared, the expenditure having been authorised by the Health department.