HOSPITAL BOARDS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21632, 8 February 1945, Page 6

HOSPITAL BOARDS

ADDRESS BY MINISTER DEPARTMENT’S POLICY (P.A.) WELLINGTON. Feb. 8. In an address to the Hospital Boards' conference, the Hon. A. H. Nordmeyer. Minister of Health, said free hospital treatment did not mean that every person who fell ill should enter hospital. Those who could be nursed at home should be so nursed, and the responsibility fell on hospital superintendents to ensure that only those whose illness or circumstances were such that they could not be nursed in their homes were admitted to hospital beds. He emphasised the importance of out patient treatment and the home nursing service, though at present there were difficulties in obtaining a sufficient staff for the latter. There were some who were asking when hospital expansion was likely to cease. He his department had been giving Some thought to the matter and, after considering the standards in various countries abroad and the conditions in New Zealand, with its relatively scattered population, took the view that 10 beds per IQOO population, including maternity, tuberculosis and infectious beds, were sufficient.