ORDERED OUT OF BED.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLV, Issue 13690, 5 March 1908, Page 4

ORDERED OUT OF BED.

HOSPITAL MANAGEMENT. SERIOUS ALLEGATIONS. At the meeting of the Auckland Trades and Labou.i Council, held last evening, grave charges were preferred against the management jf the Auckland Hospital. -.The matter was brought up by .Mr. Henry, a delegate, who declared, that a servant girl from Ponsonby had been ordered to the hospital on Saturday week by Dr. Bedford. She went to the hospital, he alleged, carrying with her a certificate from Dr. Bedford, but she was told there was no room available, and she would be admitted as soon as there was room. On the following Thursday the girl was very bad., and the hospital authorities were communicated with and she was admitted the next day. The girl had been in Auckland two years, but she happened to mention that she had been up North on a short holiday, and this was taken down. " Hali'-an-hour after the gin was bathed and put in bed," Mr.- Henry declared, " the doctor came and ordered her out of the hospital there and then." The girl was suffering from varicose vein?..-' She had enough money to take her ffe the hospital, but none to pay her ij»wn fare back home, and she had to wsfclk'as best she could from the hospital to jaargreavesstreet, off College Hill. " They told her to go to the Northern Wairoa Hospital," he alleged. " Recently a young girl was sent to the hospital by the health officer (Dr. Purdy), but site was sent away again to die." Such proceedings were monstrous ! A Delegate : Brutal! M:. Henry then moved— That this Council deplores the condition of affairs and management as at present existing at the Auckland Hospital, and hopes that the Hospital Board will take steps to prevent, such a thing happening again, as it is a menace and scandal to the citizens of Auckland that such a state of things should be allowed to exist in this enlightened and democratic community. The motion was seconded by Mr. Canham. Mr. Peak said he had had some experience of the hospital, and he counselled cautiu... They ought to write to the secretary of the Hospital Board and ascertain why the young girl had been sent home, and also inquire about the child's case. They wanted to make sure of their ground before they made a direct charge. The President (Mr. A. Rosscr) : What can justify sending a girl home like that' She was already in bed apparently. Mr. Long thought that the days for such a tiling to occur in the hospital were past and gone. The Commission was supposed to have cleared all that up. Mr. Peak, in referring to the Commission, said that some of the officials who were the cause of the trouble were still at the hospital. " Those officials have too much say in the - hospital management now," he declared. The President: If they have any reasonable excuse it will be given to us. The motion was carried.