Allegations Of Waste At Reefton Hospital

Greymouth Evening Star, 24 October 1947, Page 4

Allegations Of Waste At Reefton Hospital

• ?■ [SPECIAL REPORTER] REEFTON, This Day. Grave allegations of waste and mismanagement at the Inangahua Hospital, Reefton, , were made by members at the final meeting of the present Hospital . Board last might. A member of the visiting committee claimed, that .he had found portion of a roll of bacon in the garden- and half a sheep in a rubbish tin. : Other allegations were that the door of the hospital refrigerator had ibeen broken, for some time, but the power had been left switched onthat lumps'of raw'mCat had been seen in the fowlyard arid that discipline was lacking in the kitchen, with the girls chasing each other'and yelling, to tile annoyance of patients in the hospital.

The chairman of the board, Mr J. B. Auld,:’ said it had been known for a long time that it was difficult to ex-ercise'-proper supervision at the hospital /arid it was' one of the reasons why some members had been agitating for a long 'time for the . appointment, of a secretary-manager. The board discussed the! allegations at length.’ but no motion . was, passed, members pointing, out that it was . too late in the life of’the board to take his report as a member of last month’s visiting .committee, Mr B. Topp said there was another matter which he intended to refer, and he. did not know whether it should be taken in committee. ; “The waste which is going on down at the hospital is a disgrace—no other words can be'used,” ' continued Mr Topp. “I went into the garden and there was, a roll of bacon about so long (illustrated with his hands to be abbut.six inches long)/ I asked the gardener how it got there and he replied, ‘I intended to bury, it—it was thrown out. of the kitchen.’” . , ■The gardener, continued Mr Topp, had indicated that he should look in the rubbish tins. ■ ‘T lifted the lid of one, and I do not think I am exaggerating when.l say that there, was over half a sheep there. Am I exaggerating, Mrs Yellowlees?’'’ asked Mr Topp. Mrs R. Yellowlees (the other member of the visiting committee): There was a lot of uncooked meat there..

Supervisor Needed “That sort of thing cannot go on,” said Mr Topp. “I think the time has arrived when the board has to put some, sort of supervisor into the kitchen. We were also disappointed to find that the refrigerator door had been broken for some weeks, and that the power was on, all the time. I took it upon myself to come up the street and ask a man to fix it, but just what was done I do not, know.” The chairman: if the matron had reported it it would have been done. That probably accounts for your half a sheep. Mrs Yellowlees pointed out that the meat was not kept in the refrigerator and the chairman commented that the fact that the meat was not kept in a .refrigerator probably accounted for the fact that some of it had gone bad. It was Impossible to get four or five sheep at a time without having some of the meat going bad. • !

“Anyway, that is what we saw Mr Topp. “I do think that the incoming board will have to get down to it' and do something about the kitchen.” The chairman: That is one of the reasons why some of us have been agitating for a long time for the appointment of a secretary-manager. It has been known for a long time that it is difficult to exercise proper supervision.

“It wants more supervision 'in the kitchen,” said Mr Topp. In reply to a question by Mr W. Clayton as to who was the cook at the hospital, Mrs Yellowlees said that they were all very young people in the kitchen and she believed that the cook was not on duty the day the bacon was seen in the garden.

“Difficult Time”

“Has the matron not got control of the kitchen?” asked Mr Clayton. . The chairman: It is a very difficult time down there, you know. Mrs Yellowlees: Yes, it is hard for the matron. . If the board went down there to discuss these matters you would probably have all the girls leave.

“Are the girls to blame?” asked Mrs Hardie. Mr Topp said that surely they must know that it was wasteful to throw out good food. Surely the person doing the ordering must know what was on hand and make the purchases accordingly. In reply to a question by Mr J. McGregor as to who did the ordering, the chairman said that the matron had instructions, in that regard. Referring to the purchases of meat, Mrs Yellowlees said she thought that there was a standing order with the Canterbury Frozen Meat Co., and possibly too much was coming to hand. “It did look ridiculous to see all that meat in the rubbish tin, and another sheep at the door, ready to be cut up,” said Mr Topp. Mr F. W. Archer: The condition of the refrigerator, was very likely the reason, and there was .no excuse for that.

Mrs Yellowlees said that milk and penicillin were kept in the refrigerator, but not meat, as it was not big enough. Mr Topp suggested that if the order of meat from Christchurch was too big, it could be reduced, at least on alternate weeks. “It is rather late in the day for us to be going over this thing now,” said Mr Archer, “we should have done it long ago. Mr Topp: The visiting committee had to make its report. Meat in Fowlyard Mr Archer: Yes, and I give them credit for being outspoken. I think it is a shame that waste is going on. I have seen lumps of -raw meat in the fowlyard myself. Did you mention the matter ,of the meat in the rubbish tin to'the matron at the time? “We were aghast,” said Mrs Yellowlees. “I think it would have been best, having gone as far as you did, if you had asked the matron the reason for it,”'said Mr Archer. Later in the same afternoon, said Mrs Yellowlees,'she had returned to the hospital and had told the matron(Miss D.- M. Whisker) that she and Mr-Topp had been a bit shocked at the'large piece of meat in the rubbish tin. The matron had replied' that she had. not seen the meat\in the tin and had not known, about it. She also said that the usual. cook was off' for the day.

“Since then,” continued .Mrs Yellowlees; “I know that the matron has been down to the kitchen as early as 6.30 o ? clock in the morning to See What is going on and to set things out for the day.” ' Mr Archer: I really think you should have pointed it out to the matron at the time.

"Mr Topp: I agree, up to a point, that .we failed in our duty, but the point ds' that we had that other trouble at the hospital in the afternoon and I did not want to heap coals on to it. I intended to bring it up at the board meeting and to suggest that perhaps we could get an elderly person to go into the kitchen to supervise.

“It is the matron’s job, there is no getting away from it,” said the chairman. “It is part of her duties to issue the rations and to see what is used.”

j Mr Archer said he considered it unnecessary to make a recommendation to the incoming board on the matter, as no doubt some of the members would be back again. “Don’t forget that there is a ‘guillotine’ waiting for some of us,” commented Mr Topp.

“There will have to be changes in the kitchen,” said Mrs A. Hardie. “Discipline is lacking and the noise at times is awful. I think the girls.should be told that it is a hospital they are working in and not a lunatic asylum. They

chase each other and yell, and it is very disturbing to patients in nearby rooms. "• •

The chairman: I think this question has been discussed quite enough by this board. I think it is one of the things that can be left to the incoming board;*"

Mr McGregor: It might right itself. Mrs Yellowlees spoke to the matron. The chairman thanked the two members of the visiting committee for the report and expressed the hope that they would be re-elected. “It was bad electioneering propaganda,” commented Mr Archer, with a smile.

Mr Topp said he objected to the suggestion of “propaganda.” The committee had merely reported what it had seen.

Question of Publicity (In view of Mr Topp’s preliminary remarks in reference to the fact that he did not know whether the discussion should be taken in committee, and in the absence of a motion to that effect, the Evening Star representative sought a ruling from the board on the point and this provoked another discussion, when the chairman asked for the opinion of members). Mr Archer said he thought the matter should be in committee and MrsYellowlees said she thought at least part of the discussion should not go in the papers. » “As far as I am concerned, it should be made public,” said Mr McGregor. ‘•The reports of the visiting committee have always been made public.” There was no thought of propaganda as far as he was concerned, said Mi- Topp. He had reported the things as he saw them, and he ‘did not give a continental.’ “What I see, I say,” he added.

Mrs Hardie: I support Mr McGregor. Ido not think we should hide anything from the public. It is the public’s business and I do not think we should hide anything or that anyone should be shielded.

“I am quite easy,” said Mr Clayton. “The visiting committee saw waste and I think it was entitled to bring the matter before the board. I think that most people will think that the supervision down there had been lax.” He added that it* was obvious that two much meat was being purchased and that he had always held the opinion that there was a want of management. As far as he was concerned, the discussion could go in the press.” The chairman said he was very pleased that all of the members were definite on the point and he ruled that the discussion had been held in open meeting.

Staffing Difficulties

Reference to the staffing difficulties at the hospital was made by the matron in her monthly report. She stated:—“This has again been a busy period in all departments, with , the staff position remaining the same. I would ask that an endeavour be again made to secure the services of a trained nurse for night duty to relieve the Asters of night call in addition to their other duties. With’ the number of patients going through now it is more essential‘ than ever that, we should have a trained nurse for night duty. The past two months show record figures for over 10 years.” . The chairman said that it was fully appreciated that the staff was working under great difficulties and strain, but it was very difficult to get staff. It was decided to advertise for trained staff and also to communicate with Miss M. I. Lambie, chief of the nursing division, pointing out. that the staff at the hospital was overworked and seeking her assistance in obtaining relief.

Interest In Flax

• Stating that he understood that the Government was interested in acquiring a large area of flax near Rotokohu, the chairman of the Inangahua County Council (Cr J. J. Coghlan) suggested at yesterday’s meeting that the council should make efforts to have Pascoe’s road put in order. It was decided to make representations to the Government for a grant of £2OO to be spent on the road.