HOSPITAL ACCOMMODATION.

New Zealand Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 15047, 17 July 1912, Page 8

HOSPITAL ACCOMMODATION.

The accommodation available at the Auckland Hospital as at present organised is so greatly below constant public xequirements as to constitute a growing scandal. The Medical Committee has long recognised the position and proposes various improvements which are designed to cope with this pressing difficulty as well as to assist in the more effective treatment of hospital cases. Apart, however, from proposals which deal with such hospital work as can only be carried on at a central institution we have the notorious necessity for auxiliary " homes" to relieve the Hospital of that large number of cases which can be better dealt with elsewhere. Unfortunately there is a lack of coordination between bodies wjiose avowed purpose is the care of the sick and the alleviation of human suffering, with the result that the convalescent, the incurable and even the consumptive do not receive the most suitable attention, and in many cases encroach upon accommodation which is urgently needed for

I ordinary Hospital requirements. It ... is most sincerely to be hoped that [ in the consideration of this prob- ; iem there will be a truce to the i squabbling and recrimination which s have so sadiy weakened the power , for good of the Hospital Board.. i Human nature is so imperfect that i its best intentions and most desir- ' able schemes can be easily critil cised and cavilled at, if they aire • approached in an unfriendly and ! bitter spirit. There should be in all : hospital board discussions a gener- ) ous and helpful spirit, as there i would be if members would con- > sbantly boar in mind the influence • they wield over the health and s happiness and even over the lives of '.- their afflicted fellow-citizens. .If the , question of hospital accommodation i is considered impartially and intelli- [ gently it must be unanimously i realised that the most far-reaching ; reform would be to so reorganise the j existing system that the Hospital ' would be reserved wholly for those f . patients who constantly require the s service of a large and highly trained ; professional staff, and that the auxi--5 Mary "homes" to which we have i referred would be available for all , others. The Knox trustees possess > near Mount Wellington land which is : highly suitable for the "homes" in - question, and it is suggested that t the Hospital Board should endea- . vour to secure the co-operation of > the trustees in dealing With the] accommodation problem. Convalest cents need care and attention, pleas' sant suwouiidings andl' invigorating i conditions, but this can be best i given them outside the Hospital. » Incurables cannot easily be separated from true Hospital Cases, for ) as long as there is no suitable institution for them it is most natural - that great reluctance should be felt t by the Hospital authorities at dis--5 charging them to discomfort and I hardship. In spite of this relucti ance, the absence of the Home for t Incurables'; provided for in the admiri: able Knox bequests is felt • acutely . by many of those whom every I humane citizen would gladly assist, - while the purpose of the Qostley , Home is being defeated by the entry - of incurables into that institution. I Convalescents and incurables could >■ both be accommodated at separate i and suitable institutions which • coidd be erected on the Knox land, ' while separate buildings for the ' proper treatment of consumptives • would also be finely placed in that ' desirable locality. Such an arrange- '■ ment would greatly relieve the > Hospital and thus would put an end ', to the existing disgraceful congestion.