CLEARING HOSPITAL

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 22 April 1941, Page 4

CLEARING HOSPITAL

COMPLETION IN WELLINGTON SHORTLY SOLDIER PATIENTS Work was well under way on the soldiers' clearing hospital being built at Aotea Quay, near the Wellington railway yards, said the Minister of Health, Mr Nordmeyer, last night. The hospital was not intended for use for any very long period, and it would probably not be open for more than about a week at a time for use as a clearing house for soldier patients arriving by hospital ship. That would mean that those cases who were in such a serious condition on arrival that they could not stand transport by ambulance trains to other centres would be removed to the new building erected by the Government in the Wellington Hospital grounds. Cases requiring specialist attention, such as orthopaedic or eye treatment, would be accommodated in the large base hospitals in the four main centres and other cases would be sent to the hospitals nearest to their homes. There would be two long-term convalescent hospitals. South Island cases would be treated in the existing hospital in Hanmer, and it was proposed to build another hospital in Rotorua to cater for the North Island cases. TO HOLD 300 The clearing hospital, a single-storied temporary structure comprising six wards and an administration block, would hold approximately 300 patients, continued the Minister. There would be three wards on each side of the administration block and a 9ft corridor running the whole length of the building.

The administration block would include a nurses’ changing room, a recreation room for those cases who were able to be on their feet, a large soldiers’ dining-room, a staff dining-room, caretaker’s quarters, and office accommodation for the clerical staff. In addition, there would be an X-ray room, the matron’s and medical officers’ offices, three rooms for the medical examination of patients on arrival, storerooms, and a kitchen with cooled rooms for butter, milk and meat, a vegetable preparation room, and a large servery. 48-BED WARDS Each ward would contain 48 beds. There was ample bathroom and sanitary accommodation, as well as shower rooms and a large supply of handbasins. Provision had been made for a sterilising room in each ward and a sister’s duty room, and there would also be a ward kitchen to which would be brought the food from the main kitchen.

“The central block and two wards—nearly 100 beds —will be completed in May,” said the Minister, “and it is hoped to have the whole building finished shortly afterward.”