£863,000 SCHEME

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23084, 8 July 1938, Page 13

£863,000 SCHEME

WELLINGTON HOSPITAL COMMISSION'S REPORT PAYING WARDS APPROVED HUTT CLAIMS RECOGNISED [by telegraph—own correspondent] WELLINGTON. Thursday A development programme for the Wellington Hospital area? involving an expenditure of £863,075, including the provision of a combined general and maternity hospital, with a full-time out-patients' department, in the Hutt Valley, is recommended by the Royal Commission which recently inquired into the present inadequacies and prospective hospital needs of the, district. The report was released to-day. Mr. H. A. Young, S.M., of Christchurch, was chairman of the commission, and with him were Dr. D. S. Wylio, of Palrnerston North, and Dr. H. Hardwick-Smith, of Wellington, The order of reference provided for an investigation of the board's building programme, the existing accommodation at the hospital, and the establishment of a general hospital in the Hutt Valley. Lengthy evidence was heard in tho course of the inquiry. Proposed Order of Work The commission recommends that thfi first works to be put in hand bp additions to the nurses' home and the boiler-house at the main hospital ati Newtown, and that improvements to the children's hospital, the erection of new bulk stores, laundry alterations, the provision of a temporary ward, the erection of the Hutt Valley Hospital, the construction of a new mortuary at Newtown, and the building of a centenary block, be proceeded with in that order.

On the question of paying wards advocated by many witnesses at. the -in* quiry, the commission expresses th# opinion that, in view of the urgency of improving the ordinary accommodation at the- Wellington Hospital, and to do away with the gross overcrowding existing there at present, this ordinary accommodation must first of all be provided. When this has been done, the erection of a private block should be considered, with such modification of the system obtaining elsewhere as would meet local conditions. Works and Estimates

The following is a summary of the works recommended by the commission, together with the Hospital Board's "Wellington architects' estimates of costs: —Main block, £96,380; nurses' home, £79,750; boiler-house, £52,423;' superintendent's residence, £4140; road formation, £850; temporary wards, £9313; new store, with temporary dining room, £18,368; laundry altera* tions, £5500; workshops, £1500; child* ren's hospital, schoolroom, etc:, £2630; new mortuary, £6440; combined gen* eral and maternity hospital, with fulltime out-patients' department in the Hutt Valley, £185,751_; total, £863,075* Present Inadequacies With regard to the existing facilities provided by the Wellington Hospital Board, the commission finds that in many respects the present accommodation and services are inadequate to a; varying degree, as follows: —In the accommodation for various classes of patients of the hospital, including operating theatre facilities; in the nurses' home accommodation; and ia the following working facilities at the hospital: Boiler-house with steam 6er* vices, kitchen, stores, laundry, and morgue.

The service was also found to be inadequate in the facilities for the treatment of patients in the Hutt Valley. On the ascertained maximum demand, the present hospital is under-established by 414 beds. • 132 More Nurses' Bedrooms inadequacies in the operating theatres, sterilisation facilities, steam services, laundry, food preparation section, accommodation for maids "and porters and for nurses, are pointed out in the report. In the last-named respect,. the report states that, as a result of the unsatisfactory accommodation and over* crowded condition of the wards, the Wellington Hospital has an unenviable record as regards the morbidity rate among the nursing staff. The commission is satisfied that at least 132 ad* ditional bedrooms are required at present for nurses.