Dominion Hospitals

Hutt News, Volume 10, Issue 21, 28 October 1936, Page 5

Dominion Hospitals

HUTT HOSPITAL NOT NEEDED,

EXPERT TALKS FRANKLY. WELLINGTON'S WISE DECISION.The belief 'that though New Zealand may lead the world in certain phases of life, she lags decades ibehimdi in regard to the development of her hospitals was emphasised by Mr. A. G. Stephenson, a world, authority on hospital development and architecture, in an address to a small audience in the Lower Hutt Horticultural Hall recently. The lecture was hurriedly arranged by Mr, G. Y. Berry, of the Wellington Hospital Board. Amoi|g the visiting party were Mr, iGlover, chairman of the Wellington. Hospital Board, ami- Dr. A. E. Thorne, superintendent.

Mr. J. W." Andrews, Mayor o.f Lower Hutt, who presided, stated that Mr. Stephenson was visiting New Zealand at the invitation of the Wellington Hospital Board to report on-the new building proposals and' Lower Ilutt residents were deeply indebted to him for consenting to deliver a lantern lecture. Mr. Stephenson opened his lecture by stating the importance of a proper care of the sick and'the well (being of those suffering, and traced the rise of hospitals ,frc;n 1100 B.C. in India and in Greece and' .Rome. Hippocrates who practised about 400 B.C. was the first to establish case records as they were known to-iday and the first to diagnose scarlet fever. Having no anaesthetics, he kept a wooden mallet beside the" operating table to promote anaesthesia. Advance came in the mass care of the sick during the crusades, with the rise of the Knights of St. John and the work of the Society of Hospitallers. During tho criisades the yens and groans e.f th'ose affected by scurvy promoted more fear in the opposite camps than the feats of arms. Then followed the work of tho monasteries, the nuns, the sisterhoods of which were the controlling influence in hospitals on the continent of Europe to-day. The hospitals of the middle ages wore looked' upon with the utmost 'dread by anyone who was ill. They were badly lit and ventilated and became hotbeds of infection.

HAMPERING TRADITIONS. Just before the beginning of the nineteenth century hospitals shewed great development in England ,and a sign of the prosperity o.L' a city or borough was its provision of almshouses and poorhouses. About this time hospital development 'became affected- by the idea, brought forward in Germany, that disease -was air-borne and that to combat di:ease| it was necessary to have big areas between ■wards. Unfortunately this idea has persisted to the detriment of cfucicnt- hospital architecture. The British wen; a curious people, being bound -by tradition, and this still hampered the development of hospital science. Wellington was completely out of date in its hospital buildings, but it was not alone in •that respect. It was the same elsewhere in New Zealand, an.l- with few exceptions in Australia, South Africa, and elsewhere. New Zealand had excellent surgeons and nursing staffs, which made one wonder why she was so ibehiudhaud in other matters for the care of the sick. New Zealand spent six or seven millions in the construction' of roads, three to four millions on education, and one and a half millions On the care of the sick. In the constru'eticii ot' hospitals only some sixty to seventy thousand was spout. Now Zealandcrs did not give themselves a reasonable chance of practising economy in hospitals. WELLINGTON HOSPITAL OUT OP DATE. The Wellington Hospital was quite out of date in its lay-out. .The idea of taking, say, a child patient hundreds of feet along corridors to its ward was bad for patient and staif._ If a nurse had to find a- doctor she might have to walk a mile, and nurses had half a mile to walk to meals.

Modern science was showing the

J great value to patients and attendants of colour and beauty and .form, and these simply did not exist in New Zealand hospitals. There were beautiful garde'ns but the wards did not .face them, and there was ample sunlight, but the wards did not get it. There were only 35 days in Wellington when there was no sunlight, but the benefit of the sunlight was ignored. Prevailing winds too played a large part, but •these were ignored when the hospital buildings wore planned. The two most important things to 'consider in building hospitals were aspect and prospect, and these were not considered in Kew. •Zealand hospitals. The Auckland hospital had a most wonderful outlook, but when the building was erected this view was carefully avoided and the same might 'be said of the aspect. ''REFUSAL TO THINK WE AEE WRONG-." . 'The .people ol' Wellington, were to be congratulated on taking up ".his question and having the determination to modernise their hospital buildings. It was good economy to keep people well, as every person not able to work was

an economic loss to the i.'oniniunity. More thought should be given to preventing ipeople getting ill, and the people of New Zealand should be thinking o.f cutting down Tiospital expenses instead of increasing them.

New Zealand hospitals were lamentably overcrowded, and study should be made of what was being done in other countries. New Zealand had led the world in providing an eight-hours system for nurses, but this was nullified by the conditions in the hospitals. The basic trouble was a refusal to think they were wrong. If only people would think and study the question, the matter would be remedied. There were 48 separate hospital boards, in New Zea-

laud', each entirely independent. Where was t!io eo-o[)enttion in suvh a system? What was needed was that the hospital system should be co-ordinated under one individual. All over the world lie liad heard nothing" but praise for New Zealand doctors and nurses. The nurses had a world-wide fame, and he had heard them praised in England, the U.S.A., and even in Russia; but thc.r work was brought to naught by the conditions in the hospitals.

Dealing with the Ilutt Valley problem, Mr. ■Stephenson said lie was definitely of the opinion, after having given tho question much consideration, that the time had not yet come for the establishing of a hospital in the Valley —modem practice was to build up a strong medical centre whkh served districts in which clinics were established'.

Mr. Stephenson then, by means of lantern slides, took the audience for a tour of the world. The original photos had all been taken by him, and depicted the exteriors and interiors of modern hospitals in Germany, France, U.S.A. , Russia, [Australia, Finland, Austria, Italy, (Switzerland, and other countries. One picture of a modern hospital in New York showed a building accommodating many thousands of patients, and 'built on. an area one tliir the size of tho Wellington Hospital

A revelation of what a modern hospital would mean was given in a picture which .superimposed a mc-dern building 011 the -present Wellington Hospital.

An. interesting picture .showed nas^

turtiums growing up in a narrow space between glass walls in a tubercular hospital in Finland; it liaiJ been discovered 'that this plant had a 'beneficial effect 011 the patients, as well as creating a beauty spot. Another most interesting exhibit was the provision c*,f separate cubicles —ono for each child under observation —in a Russian hospital.

The present out-of-da.to kitchen arrangements in Wellington were compared in pictures with modern appliances, ami modern operating theatres and modern dental clinics were depicted. The hygienic washing of babies without baths and tho modern treat-' ment for' cripples in large special hospitals were illustrated.

Mr. Stephenson expressed the opinion that not more than two special Hospitals for cripples should be established on modern lines in each Island. On the motion of the Mayor, a hearty vote o,f 'thanks was accorded the lecturer and. his assistants. •