Hospital Problem: Control Of Visitors

Northern Advocate, 17 September 1941, Page 4

Hospital Problem: Control Of Visitors

Members of the Wellington Hospital Board on Thursday night . spoke of “visitors arriving in hordes.” of visits that had become visitations, and of people who were so unreasonable that they did more harm than good to patients. The Medical Superintendent (Dr. J. Cairney) has made a report to the board in which he, too, says that the visiting privileges at the Wellington Hospital are so badly abused that something must be done about it. He outlined alternative systems of control but did not make a definite recommendatiion. A further report is to be made on a system of admission by ticket. "I am in entire agreement that the number of visitors is far too great,” Dr. Cairney reported. The fact that at certain hours it was almost impossible to proceed along the corridor against the main stream of visitors he considered relatively unimportant, the principal objection being that to permit a ward to be crowded with visitors was not fair to patients who were seriously ill and threw an unreasonable strain on the nursing staff, already working under extremely difficult conditions. Children under 14 years of age were not allowed into the wards, but the rule was broken when children were taken in otherwise than by the main entrance.

The ward sister had authority to request visitors to leave any particular bedside but she had no means of enforcing her request. A reduction in visiting hours. Dr. Cairney thought, would only increase the numbers on remaining days, and different visiting days for different wards would not help. That would mean that the hospital staff would have no clear days at all, and there would inevitably be mistakes about visiting days for different wards. Discs Anil Tickets The two methods of control outlined by the Medical Superintendent were by disc and ticket. Two discs for each patient would be kept at the main entrance and no visitor would be admitted to a ward withoi.t a disc. The main objection was that the porter who issued the discs could not exercise discretion, and the first to claim discs must receive them, whether or not they were the persons the patients principally wished to see. A great deal of waiting and telephoning between the office and the wards would naturally result. Under the ticket system two tickets were given the patient, who handed or had them posted to relatives or friends. The tickets were transferable, but there were difficulties where j a patient omitted to send tickets and where relatives arrived before they: received them, | Dr. Cairney did not hold out anyj positive hope. Most hospitals had' tried one system after another, moy

ing on to the next as each was found unsatisfactory. However, if a change was to be made from the present conditions the ticket system would be the more satisfactory. The rule would have to be absolute, and so some provision would have to be made for lost tickets. Inspection of tickets by porters at each ward door would probably involve the board in some expense.