HOSPITAL NEEDS

New Zealand Herald, Volume 81, Issue 25055, 20 November 1944, Page 7

HOSPITAL NEEDS

SURVEY IN WAIKATO BOARD MEMBERS' TOUR (0.C.) _ HAMILTON. Sunday A visit was paid to Matamata, Rotorua, Atiamuri and Tokoroa on Friday by members of the Waikato Hospital Board. The visit was made in continuation of the board's survey of the area under its jurisdiction to ascertain the requirements of the district for further hospitals. Tho need for additions and improvements at the Alatamata Hospital was pointed out by the local members, Messrs J. Price and J. Polilen. At Rotorua a large nurses' home is in progress of erection. It is being built to accommodate 140 nurses and is a twostoreyed structure overlooking the Rotorua Lake. In order to accommodate many of the Rotorua Hospital nurses, the board has leased a boarding house in the vicinity. It is expected that a section of the new nurses' home will be sufficiently advanced by next month to accommodate the 80 nurses now being boarded out. The remainder of the building is expected to be ready early in the new year. A site has been cleared for the new hospital building at Rotorua on an area adjoining the old structure on Pukeora Hill. Plans for the new building are now being prepared and will be ready for submission to the Health Department next month. The local board members, Messrs J. Banks and A..E. Alissen, stressed the need for making a start with the foundations before the winter sets in. Although the old hospital, which was built to accommodate soldiers following the last war, has had extensions in recent .wars, the accommodation available is inadequate to meet the growing needs of the district.