THE MISSING LINK

New Zealand Times, Volume LIII, Issue 12425, 20 April 1926, Page 6

THE MISSING LINK

PAY WARDS ADVOCATED PAHENTS HAVE CHOICE OF DOCTOR 'SUGGESTION FROM OVERSEAS Much ias been said of the hospital ward system in New Zealand, and several changes suggested. The pay ward, which was suggested at one time, has been described by Dr. MacEachern as the missing link in the New Zealand hospital system. “The hospitals in the Dominion,” ho says, “should he so constituted as to provide for all sections of the community, namely: (a) Those unable to pay anything; (b) those able to pay for maintenance; (c) those able to pay for maintenance and medical attention. . “In this way, the public hospitals, with their fine organisation, equipment, and personnel, would be at the disposal of all sections of the community, rather than of one class or section, as at present, namely, the supposedly necessitous poor. This is the missing link at present in the hospital system of New Zealand. A GREAT NEED “There is great need for accommodation for the intermediate class of patients, particularly who wish to pay their own way and have their own doctor attend them in hospital. “The addition of pay wards to the public hospitals presupposes:— “(a) That there should be various grades of accommodation and charges; “(b) That the quostion of professional charges should he a matter between the doctor and his patent; "(o) That the treatment of those who voluntarily enter the paying wards of the hospital, and those who are deemed by the investigating official of the hospital ahle to pay professional fees in addition to maintenance should make their own arrangements for attendance with a doctor of choice, and not be under the medical or surgical control of the resident medical staff.

“(d) That private patients entering wards should not he attended by the stipendiary staff, but by the doctor of their choice. Failing to have a choice, or not being able to make a selection, nothing should prevent a member of the honorary staff from attending that patient in a private capacity.”