TEMPORARY RELIEF

Greymouth Evening Star, 15 February 1947, Page 4

TEMPORARY RELIEF

STAFFING AT WESTLAND HOSPITAL DOMESTICS VOLUNTEER [SPECIAL REPORTER] . HOKITIKA,’This Day. Partly as a result of the publicity given to the 'desperate shortage of staff at the Westland Hospital, Hokitika, which threatened to cause the closing down of one of the wards a fortnight ago. a number of volunteers have come forward to assist and have afforded considerable relief. Intervieyved, the medical superintendent of the hospital, Dr. E. J. Velvin, said that the domestic staffing position had greatly improved. Four women had offered their services as domestics and had been gratefully accepted. This easing had, in turn, assisted’to lighten the burden on the nursing staff, which had had to be called upon to carry out duties normally undertaken by the domestic staff. Married Nurses Help. On the nursing side, said Dr. Velvin, the relief which had been obtained yvas only temporary but it was enabling the institution to carry on. Two married nurses, appreciating the difficulties facing the hospital, had volunteered to return to duty temporarily and the staff had been augmented to that extent. One of these nurses was working full time and the other was giving part-time assistance. It appeared, added Dr. Velvin, that the improvement in regard to the domestic staff yvas largely due to the publicity given to the hospital’s difficulties and it was appreciated that the four neyv domestics had come forward when they became aware of the position. Ward Not Closed. “Temporarily, the position is quite a lot better,” he said, “and we arc able to carry on without closing down a yvard, as was thought likely a short time ago. However, it is still necessary for us to keep the number ol patients down to the minimum and that is being done by restricting admissions as far as is possible.” Dr. Velvin added that the blood transfusion service recently established to serve the hospital yvas progressing satisfactorily. Already the service had been used most effectively in several cases.