HOSPITAL CONTROL

Hawke's Bay Tribune, Volume XXIII, Issue 104, 13 April 1933, Page 3

HOSPITAL CONTROL

THE WAIPAWA BOARD BUSINESS OF THE MONTH VARIOUS MATTERS DISCUSSED (Special Representative.) The monthly meeting of the Waipawa Hospital Board was held at Waipukuran yesterday, the chairman, Mr W. H. Rathbone presiding over Messrs T. P. Hunter H. W. White, N. G. Hawthorn, W. Matthews, B. G. Atkins, D. Eddy, L. Glenny, and R. A, Fraser. The secretary, Mr P. R. Smyrk was also in attendance. The Director-General of Health wrote granting approval of the board’s overdraft limit of £lOOO. —Received. Mr T. Reid wrote conveying his thanks to the board and nursing staff for the treatment his mother had received whilst a patient in the Waipukurau Hospital.—Received, and the eulogistic sentiments expressed in the letter were noted with appreciation. Letters of such nature showed that the board’s economical administration of the hospital did not in any way lessen its efficiency, said the chairman, and also shpwed that, the people had the fullest appreciation and confidence in the board. Letters were received from the Dannevirke and Hawke’s Bay Hospital Boards agreeing to a conference of East Coast boards and officers of the department to discus s the patients’ fees’ scale. —It was decided to hold the conference and to suggest a date and time for it. x The town clerk, Waipukurau stated that the borough council could nor at present grant further concessions for water, but advised that there was a probability of the water charges being revised shortly. “This is a matter that should be gone into very fully,’’ said Mr Hawthorn. “The borough council gets half as much from us for water as it pays towards the upkeep of the hospital, and yet it uses the institution more than anyone else.’’ The chairman remarked that the council was not uniform in its charges. The hospital was the largest consumer of water in the borough and should receive better consideration than it was getting. The council, instead of looking at the position in a broad manner regarded it from a narrow point of view. One view that the borough council took was that the board, which had 33 acres of land, paid no rates, but he said the council overlooked the fact that if this land were cut up into building sites it would get very little in rates. The chairman instanced the fact that the board with such a large staff spent a considerable amount in the town by way of wages, etc., which was worth some consideration. A reduction in water charges to the hospital would not only help the board but would incidentally help the ratepayers. He expressed the wish that the new council would regard the matter in the right light and accomplish something in the nature of a reduction. The secretary mentioned that the council had some time ago reduced the water charges from 1/3 per 1000 gallons to 1/li. ° Correspondence in connection with unemployment relief was forwarded by the Health Department. It was shown that in one or two of the larger centres some difficulty was still being experienced in allocating as between the hospital board and the Unemployment Board, the responsibility for granting assistance to unemployed men who were more or less physically unfit. Special consideration was given to this question in an endeavour to guard against delay in dealing with applications for relief in necessitous cases. A classification of the men concerned was given as follow-s: Class A, men fit for any work in any place; class B, men fit for light work only; class C, men unfit for work of any kind. Men in classes A and B would be recognised as the responsibility of the Unemployment Board, and men in class C as that of the hospital board. In answer to Mr Glenny, the secretary said that the classification was carried out by the medical officer, and under certain circumstances the committee was in a position to alter the recommendation of the medical officer. The chairman pointed out that the letter was more in the nature of an explanatory circular. The only class that concerned the Hospital Board was class C. He did not think there was any need for action on the part of the board other than to receive the letter. The chairman also stated that the Waipukurau unemployed had sot up a committee to help themselves and pooled their resources to further that end. Ho considered that the executive was a capable one. In answer to a request from this committee that it be granted the use of the board’s slaughter yard, the chairman said this had been granted by the investigations committee, under certain specifications. He asked that the action of the secretary, the deputy-chairman and himself in granting the unemployed these facilities be approved—Carried. Writing in connection with the proposed control of the Pukeora Sanatorium by the Waipawa Hospital Board, the Director-General of Health signified his willingness to meet the board in conference and suggested Wednesday, April 26, as a tentative date.—Received. The Bay of Plenty and the Wellington Hospital Boards stated that they had resolved to continue to send all male tuberculosis patients to Pukeora. —Received.