HOSPITAL EFFICIENCY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LVIII, Issue 17956, 5 December 1921, Page 10

HOSPITAL EFFICIENCY.

UP-TO-DATE INSTITUTION. HEALING BATHS. The Maunu end of Whangarei township is dominated by an imposing pile of buildings on the crest of the hill, This ia the Whangarei Hospital, Nurses' Home, and superintendent's residence. Reaching down to the road on one side is the hospital market garden, and in front (the sharmitogly-laid lout slopes of the hospital grounds, making a restful landscape of beauty both for patients and visitors, The hospital ia one of the most up-to-date in the Dominion in regard to equipment, staffing, and general efficiency. During the past decade it has experienced a periodl of marked development, and its work_has% increased about tenfold in that time. Both the domestic aramgementg and the facilities for treatment are well abreast of modern hospital methods. In one respect—that of the training of nruvses in dietetics—this hospital is leading the van in New Zealand. During the last two years all the cooking has been done by first-year nurses under the direction of two highly-trained teachers. A maternity annexe fills a much-needed want, as well as providing the means of training in this most important branch of nursing work. The total accommodation in the hospital will suffice for about 120 patients. At present the board has under consideration schemes for further developments in various directions. At Kamo the hospital board has a farm of 60 acres, from which it draws its supplies of vegetables; and also a convalescent home where the latest physio-therapeutio appliances and methods are in use. The natural mineral baths of Kamo are a valuable adjunct to this home, and the treatment of heart affections, especially among returned soldiers, has been made a special feature of the work. Now that the treatment of soldiers is nearly at an end it is probable that the same benefits will be made available 4,0 the general public. In addition to the institutions at "Whangarei and Kama, the board lias introduced a modified form of State service by providing, a doctor at Hikurangi and another at Waipu, who carry on practice on a salaried basis, and thereby afford a great convenience to' a mining community in one case and a rural population in the other