THE HOSPITAL AMBULANCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIV, Issue 118, 18 April 1934, Page 6

THE HOSPITAL AMBULANCE.

(To tlie Editor.) Sir, —Would you kindly allow me sufficient space in which to draw the attention of the members of the Hospital Board and the public generally to several points in the report of the Hospital Board meeting appearing in this evening’s “Standard” relative to the ambulances. The first matter which attracts one’s attention is the increase in the number of cases attended and the mileage travelled from 1932 to 1933. In the former year 318 cases were attended and the ambulances travelled 8701 miles, while in the latter 337 cases are reported and the mileage has jumped to 12,395. Can the secretary of the board tell me how it is that the cases increased only by 19 and the mileage by 3694 ? Working on averages the average of miles per case in 1932 was 27.361 while in 1933 it was 36.78; why the increase? The secretary also states: “The amount of ambulance driving averaged 90 minutes per day.” This works out something like the following: To do the mileage stated per year the driver has got to change from his working clothes to something like a uniform, clean his hands and face, get the ambulance ready, travel 35 miles, and have ’his patient in the Hospital in 90 minutes'. If this is so the driver lias missed his vocation. May. I state in passing that the number of cases attended by the Hospital ambulance averages out at 6.47 per week, whereas the Free Ambulance average is 14.86 for the same period. Again, the secretary of the board states: “The cost of our ambulance service, apart from interest and depreciation, for the year ended March 31, 1933, was £295 165.” Let me refer to a report submitted by the secretary to the board at its meeting on the 19th June, 1933 (reported in the “Standard” of 20-6-33) which states: “For the year ending March 31, 1933, the cost of the ambulance service was £SOB 9s, including £lB3 17s lOd for the interest and depreciation.” It is quite a simple matter to add the amount allowed for “interest and depreciation,” provided it has not altered in the meantime, to the cost, stated in today’s report, but it is not a much harder proposition to make the total costs agree. The next puzzle is in reference to the subsidy paid to the Hospital Board in respect to its ambulance service. I have tried all manner of ways to get anywhere near a balance of these figures, and tjie best I can make of it is that according to the June report this subsidy was in the vicinity of £240, whereas the report of yesterday’s meeting states: “That the subsidy for this year will be £126.” Perhaps, sir, the secretary of the board will clear this matter up when he submits to the City Council the figures for which they have asked, viz., from the Ist April, 1933, to the 28th February, 1934. If I am wrong in my calculations I will accept correction and any help the secretary of the board can give to help me sort out the foregoing tangle will be greatly appreciated. However, sir, I will leave these matters as stated at present and thank you very much for the valued space allowed me.—l am, INTERESTED. Palmerston North, 17/4/34.