300 BEDS CLOSED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 21935, 1 February 1946, Page 4

300 BEDS CLOSED

STAFF PROBLEM

WELLINGTON HOSPITAL

"PAINFUL DECISION"

(P.A.) WELLINGTON, Feb. 1

Three hundred beds at the Wellington Public Hospitals are to be closed.

The Wellington _ Hospital Board made this decision at a meeting last night on the recommendation of the medical superintendent, Ur. J. C'airney, who reported that lie could not find the nurses to maintain the services.

The decision involves a reduction of the number of beds from 1910 to 1610. The Wellington Hospital will be reduced from 900 to 750, the Hutt General Hospital from 350 io 270, and the Silverstream Hospital from 400 to 330. Dr. Cairney told the board that 13a more nurses would be required to maintain the hospitals without a reduction in the number of beds. A national appeal recently conducted by the board had so far ■ brought only eight applicants lor posts on the nursing staff. In a separate report Dr. Cairney gave details of the serious shortages in .the domestic staffs, and said that with the lifting of the restrictions shortly, more than 70 domestic workers would' probably leave. The board decided to continue its advertising campaign for staff, and appointed a special committee whose duties will include the consideration oi a 50-page report from an industrial pychologist on staff conditions in the board’s service. “Very Worrying Position” “The position is worrying in the extreme, and very painful," said the chairman, Mr. H. F. Toogood, alter the decisions bad been made. “This is certainly not something that is being done in an idle moment, or with a political purpose. The staff simply isn’t available and it’s no time for patching the fig leaf. It is a time to be practical.” The board agreed to the provision of approximately 50 beds for maternity cases at the Wellington Hospital at the request of the Director-General of Health, Dr. M. FI. Watt, who in a letter said that one of the wards erected by the Government for soldier patients suffering from war injuries could now be made available for this purpose.