HEALTH PROBLEMS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22822, 1 September 1937, Page 18

HEALTH PROBLEMS

PROGRESS IN BRITAIN. / - _ SOCIAL RECONSTRUCTION I HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATION ! DR. E, B. GUNSON'S SURVEY . ' Modern trends in hospital adminisj traiion and_ the amazing progress of S what he termed social reconstruction ' in Great Britain were described by ]. Dr. E. B. Gunson, of Auckland, when i •ho returned by tlio Awatea yesterday 1 after seven months spent abroad. Dr. Gunson, who/ is a member of tho Auckland Hospital Board, left Now i " Zealand in January and for soveral months was working nitli Sir John Orr, director of the Rowott Nutrition .Research Institute, Aberdeen. Ho spent the remaining months in the provinces and, in Londou. Many interesting features were found by Dr. Gunson in the adminis--1 tration of the Hospitals Committee of tho Lond6n County Council. 'He ex- : plained that during the past three years the work of tho authority had I largely been . concerned with effecting j_ improvements to stalf conditions and, except for some items of rearrange- ; ment, there had been no extensive scheriics for hospital reconstruction. However, the next three years were to bo spent/in building and readjustment. I Medical Staffing U "The existing methods of medical staffin;?; are also being reorganised," 1 • said Dr. Gunson. "The committeo is increasingly appointing full-time surgeons and physicians in charge of par- . I ticular sections and, . although tho ; honorary system is used extensively in every hospital, more stipendiary staffs l are being introduced. AVhile it is a . necessarily slow process, it is highly important, as it promises to guide, to an appreciable measure, general hospital development in Great Britain." Dr. Gunson said that laymen • were being entrusted with increasing responsibility in the management of hospitals, and tho tendency was for medical men to concentrate more on the technical side. Health reorganisation was based on the contention that by eliminating minor illnesses in childhood the need for hospital accommodation would be materially reduced, and ! there were conservative estimates that there "would bo ei 50 per cent rcduction in beds within tho next 25 or , 30 years. Extensive Housing Scheme Social reconstruction was nothing - short of amajring. Within a comparatively short 'number of years some 3,000,900 homes had been rebuilt and, reckoning on an average of four persons to each house, this catered for something like a quarter of the population. No one, however, had a good word - to say for the panel system of medical insurance, but it was hoped that the tendency toward increasing the number of consultants to hospitals would serve to ameliorate some of its worst features. As it stood, it was condemned by both laymen and practitioners as being unsuitable to meet requirements. In actual • practice, it was impossible for the general practitioners to overtakes the work that presented itself to them, and it was specified that if thev were to/gain an adequate income they were obliged to make a requisite number of attendances. There was general agreement that they were working under the necessity of completing masses of official forms at the expense of attending to their patients. At the present time he was mot aware of any scheme to replace the •panel system, and it would appear that the authorities were going to attempt I to improve it piecemeal, commencing at tho hospital treatment end. Emphasis on Nutrition "The nutrition side of preventive medicine is being developed very rapidly," Dr. Gunson continued. "The younger medical officers attached to the Department of Health aro very appreciative of i the fact that adequate /nutrition is going to change the whole aspect of illness in Great Britain within tho next 1,0 or 15 years. In this direction the link with agriculture is becoming very definite, and it has been authoritatively stated that 1,000,000 more daipy cows are required if the facilities are to he provided for the production of an adequate supply of milk. Herds are being increased to meet these projected requirements."