ST. HELENS HOSPITALS

New Zealand Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 11302, 30 August 1922, Page 9

ST. HELENS HOSPITALS

USE OF AN AESTHETICS. QUESTION AND ANSWER IN HOUSE. Was it a fact that in tho St. Helens Hospitals at present no medical men were provided, nor were they in attendance unless specially arranged, for by the patients themselves? asked Mr D. G. Sullivan (Avon) in the House of Re preservatives yesterday; seotmdly, bad the patients as a result to undergo their trials without the assistance of an anaesthetic ? and thirdly,. if that was the ease, could the Minister for Publio Health arrange for an honorary staff to attend the St. Helena Hospitals in the same way aa they attended the general hospitals? The Hon. C. J. Parr replied that he had conferred with Dr Wyllie on the matter, and hia answer was, firstly, that each St. Helens Hospital had a doctor, or doctors, who attended to difficult cases, but not normal cases, who were attended by tlie matron, who was a certificated midwife. That was in conformity with the practice in all parts of the Empire. General anaesthetics ware not used in normal cases, but sedatives, such as morphia. But if an anaesthetic was considered necessary a doctor was sent for. It was not thought that an honorary staff would be an improvement upon the present arrangement at these institutions.