PATIENTS DIE FOR LACK OF HOSPITAL CARE AS STAFFLESS WARDS CLOSE

Evening Star, Issue 26155, 17 July 1947, Page 6

PATIENTS DIE FOR LACK OF HOSPITAL CARE AS STAFFLESS WARDS CLOSE

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, July 18. The closing of the sixth ward at Cornwall Hospital, in the near future, through the shortage of nursing and domestic staff, was announced by the medical' superintendent, Dr J. J. Valentine. He said that five of the 22 wards at the hospital were already closed, and the men’s ward would be next “ The position is that we cannot get- staff for the wards we. have opens and we have to close another ward to enable the staff to cover the rest,” Dr Valentine said; “As soon ■as I have enough empty beds to dose the ward it will be ciosed, and in the meantime I am not admitting any male patients. “ This will be the sixth ward to be ciosed through lack of: staff. Over 200 patients are on the waiting list. The position is the grimmest it has ever been. It is pitiful to see cases in their homes and not to be able to do anything for them. You would not believe it would be possible in a Christian community for such conditions to exist ” Dr Valentine referred to people dying of cancer or suffering gravely from other illnesses with nobody to look after them except perhaps an aged wife; Others were living in, a boarding house, and perhaps suffering the effects of a stroke. It-was absolutely tragic, and he saw it every day. “ The Hospital Board has done, and is. doing, everything possible to meet the situation, but lack of staff, both nursing -and domestic,. Sties its hands at every turn.” he concluded. -