AUCKLAND HOSPITAL STAFF

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22107, 13 May 1935, Page 12

AUCKLAND HOSPITAL STAFF

Sir, —The article which appears in your columns of Friday on the Hospital Board, appears to me to require a little explanation of the Labour point of view. The statement that the return of four Labour candidates may tend to cloud the reform issue is particularly open to question, as the whole Labour policy in regard to the hospital management is decidedly one of reform of administration. The proposal to replace the present honorary staff with a stipendiary one is of vital interest to both patients and public, and to say that there can bo no comparison between the methods of staffing at the Waikato Hospital and the Auckland Hospital is merely a statement of opinion which is not strictly related to facts.- The Waikato Hospital is the fourth largest in New Zealand, having 274 beds, as against Auckland's 625, and its maintenance costs are £44,291, while Auckland's costs are £121,992, as per appendix to Health Department's report. 1984. These figures speak for themselves, and this is only one of the facts which show that the Labour proposal of a paid staff instead of an honorary one is sound and reasonable. That the eminent surgeons and physicians necessary would require to be paid adequate salaries need not be argued, for, if statistics are to be believed, that expenditure would be more than balanced bv the resultant saving. The new members of the Hospital Board are well aware of their responsibility to both patients and public, and wo can assure you that, the riding of hobby horses will not be indulged in by any Labour member. If by any means in our power we can improve the conditions at the hospital and make it the most efficient and best-run institution in New Zealand, as it is the largest, the objective of the Labour members will have been achieved. I. M. Beneell.