MOTUEKA COTTAGE HOSPITAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXIV, 6 August 1931, Page 6

MOTUEKA COTTAGE HOSPITAL

DECISION TO CLOSE INSTITUTION DISCUSSION BY HOSPITAL BOARD The matter of the Motueka Cottage Hospital was again discussed at yesterday’s meeting of the Nelson Hospital Board and it was decided to close the institution at the end of this month. . ft was reported that no tenders had beeii received for the lease of the building. The chairman, Air F. W. O. Smith, opened tho discussion on the matter, which he 1 described as a tiresome and difficult question. He said the board could apply to the department for permission to lease the Hospital as a combined maternity and surgical institution, Lo which it was improbable the department would accede as ib was against its present policy, or the board could consider the management of the hospital by the present Matron. . Otherwise the building would have to be closed. It was clear, he said, that the board could not carry on the service as it was run at present. The board was moro than on the border line in regard to the expenditure and income, and the drastic economies forced on it made ib impossible to cany on as in the past. Air B. F. Spiers considered Alotueka was not far from Nelson and transport was easy. He said all indigent cases should be brought to Nelson. Correspondence was then read from the Motueka Borough Council and the Ngatimoti branch of the Farmers’ Union protesting against the leasing of the hospital. Alajor Dagger said those who had exercised themselves in the protests which had been made had done their uttermost to bar the board from making the best arrangements. It was possible that the talk of the hospital not being a payable proposition under private management had resulted in no tenders being received for the lease. It was regrettable, he said, that such action as closing the institution should be taken but the- board was up against itin the matter of finance. * Under the circumstances lie would support- closing. The Chairman suggested that the Department be asked to allow the board to lease the institution as a general hospital, and if the reply was not satisfactory, there was then no alternative but to discontinue the service. Airs Aloffatt moved and Air G. Alacmalion seconded that an offer made by the present Matron be accepted for ono year. (The Alatron expressed her willingness to run the hospital, rent tree, and with a subsidy of £3OO per year). Mrs Aloffatt explained that the people she represented in Alotueka did not seem to understand that- the Department had forced the board to take action. Alaior Dagger: “They’ve cut the ground from under our feet.” Mr Spiers moved an amendment: that in view of the inability of the board to lease the Alotueka <~ottacre Hospital as at present licensed the Department r.t Health be notified that the board pro poses to close the institution at the end of the current month. The motion was defeated and i' amendment ii. ! ->;t I lie vowes ■ • i one dis«..miim:. 'be V.mm-.t.a '• 1 “■ -