HOSPITAL RECIPROCITY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 22 September 1926, Page 6

HOSPITAL RECIPROCITY.

TARANAKI AND HAWERA

CHARGES MADE AGAINST SOUTHERN INSTITUTION.

"What the Taranaki Herald describes as “the somewhat evergreen question of tliia liability of one hospital board for the fees of patients belonging to its district .who- are admitted to hospitals of neighbouring districts” was again before the Taranaki Hospital Board at its meeting yesterday. Sever a, l : letters were received from the Hawera Board respecting patients of the Taranaki Board’s district who had been admitted to the Haweta Hospital, in which it was stated that if the fees vyere not collectable from the patients the accounts would be debited to. the Taranaki Board. Four cases were mentioned,. three of which were apparently cases in which there was no particular urgency necessitating their immediate admission at Hawera.

The chairman of this board (Mr M. Fraser), speaking with reservation, said it was difficult to .speak without perhaps saying some things which one should not say in public. He said this was an old trouble which had been before the board for years. They had been able to make happy arrangements with practically all the boards of thb adjoining districts, but they were frequently in trouble, with Hawtera. They accepted patients who might well come to the New Plymouth Hospital or the Opunake Hospital, and he pointed! out that anyone going to jbhe Hawera. Hospital from this district was almost a dead loss to the Taranaki Board. “The fact is.” lie said, “there is someone iri Opunake who has a dislike for this board, and patients are being sent there from Opunake who ought to go into our hospital. The question) is: ■What are we going to do to stop it?” The secretary said the Minister was the person who had the final say, and if he said there was justification for sending a patient to a hospital in another district the hoard had no option but to pay.

Continuing, Mr Fraser said he was not very anxious for the task, but he would be willing to go to Wellington, at his own expense and .point out to the Minister and the Department the real condition under which Taranaki suffered, and find out what remedy there was. As a fact the Hawera Hospital authorities encouraged this sort of thing. It was a matter of common knowledge that patients were being sent from Opunake to Hawera who ought to come to New Plymouth. He was sorry Mr Siuc l air was not present as he might have taken the matter up and made some inquiry) into these particular cases. AH the casks mentioned could b.tve been sent to New Plymouth with the exception of one, which was the result of an accident. “I’ve felt bad ever since these leters came in,”' said the chairman. “The matter has] stuck in mv gizzard and I can’t digest! it.” (Laughter). “The result will be,” lie added, “that soon Hawera will say they are receiving such a lot of patients from that end of our district that it should be included in their district.- 'They got a- slice from us before. We thought that when we established a hospital at. Opunake that wo were doing something to meet the needs of that district. Mr Halcombe: Have we no authority to compel patients in our district to come to our hospitals? The chairman: There are patientsl at Opunake being taken away from there and dumped in thk Hawera Hospital, and we have to pay. Mr Holden (secretary) repeated that |

whore any matter of 1 this sort arose the Minister had the final say. Mr Fraser: I think it’s time we brought the matter to the notice of the Minister. If we don’t they will, and the first in usually gets the best start. Dr. Clarke, medical superintendent, said the matter could' surely be determined on the basis of whether cases were urgent or non-urgent. That was the way matters were adjusted in the South, a.nd pen-urgent cases were not paid for by boards of other districts whose patients went to outside hospitals. This sort of thing was not encouraged down South as no payment was authorised for non-urgent cases admitted to an outside hospital. Mr Holden said most of the hospitals gave a diagnosis of cases on admission, but Hawera. had never done 8 The Rev. R.. B. Gosnell suggested that perhaps the board was attempting to cross the bridge before it was reached, as the letters said “if the fees wbre not collectable.” In all probability the patients would pay as .soon as an account- was rendered. The chairman said that had not been tire board’s experience in the past. It was eventually agreed to refer the matter to the chairman and Mr T. H. H. Sinclair with a view to ascertaining all particulars possible and to try and obtain from the Hawera Hospital a diagnosis of the cases, and then, it necessary, place the matter before tree Minister.