HOSPITAL NECESSITIES.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 19528, 10 July 1925, Page 6

HOSPITAL NECESSITIES.

.IMPORTANT MATTERS DISCUSSED. QUESTION OF DEVELOPME.NT. y l GREATER GOVErEffliimra? i ASSBSaCABBDE REQUIRED. : Tbe Otago, Hospital Boasd bold a second special meeting last night to consider the Necessity for a special, Government grant |o tho Dunedin Hospital for Medical School and base hospital development. The members of fee board who attended the meeting were:—The Chairman (Mr W. li S. Knight), Mrs Jackson, Messrs Queldh, Dove, Scurr. Morgan, Hancock, and Dr Newlands. There were associated wife fee board Sir Lindo Ferguson, Dr Barnett, Dr Stanley Batchelor, Dr Marshall Macdonald, Dr Fitzgerald, Dr Carmalt Jones. Dr Pickerdil, Dr Drounaii, Dr Hercus, Professor Gordon pell, and Mb W. J~ Morrell, f The business took fee form of a conference, fee chief speaker being Dr Barn sit. ■ The Secretary first read the following letiter from Dr Barnett:— ‘ ,* e As you are aware, the Hospital Com'mission appointed hy fee Government in J 921 recommended feat an extra grant of feoney be mode annually to base hospitals jp, order feat an adequate and efficient development of special departments be made, to make provision for fee proper care of fee sick throughout. fee various districts of Jfew it being recognised feat fee Smaller hospitals could not be expected to tmdertaifce fee investigation and treatment -iff oases requiring special skill and expensive jjpd elaborate accommodation and equiltJnont. The Dunedin Hospital, as ®ni ossen©al adjunct to fee Medical School, was singled oat for special consideration in ibis respect' The Government has not yet taken steps to give effect to this very necessary requirement, and it is widely felt €itat a strong effort should be made now to (Secure its favourable consideration. Sir Muf Pomare, fee head of fee Hospitals Department, has already privately expressed ttf'fSffi'writer his sympathy wife fee pro- ’ vpofial. The* honorary medical staff, fee FafmUg of Medicine, fee, University Coun«Jk and your board are all equally desirous <jLdeveloping fee special departments of fee Dunedin Hospital in a modern and efficient marmer, but all proposals for fee necessary additions are thwarted by lack of finance. It? is rightly bold feat the ratepayers of rise Otago Hospital District should not be ■called upon to provide out of their own pockets fee outlay feat is necessary! for fefe care of cases coming from other districts, as well as their own. Additional outlay is urgently required for various departments at the. Dunedin Hospital—viz., fens© concerned wife orthopaedics; eye, ear, arid throat'; facial deformities; radiology, etc.; end if these improvements are not on wife, fee Dtmedm Hospital cannot be said to be. doing its duty to fee community. If the Hospital Board is 'dis- " . pqsod to move in this matter it would be i oaky to obtain fee co-operation of tbe Hospital staff, fee Faculty of Medicine, and the University Council, so that a joint appeal could be forwarded to fee Government. The honorary medical staff has ‘already considered this question, and has " empowered me as their representative on ypur,.board’s Hospital Committee- to , ar:ratfire, if possible, for a joint appeal to be ilAdo on fee lines suggested.” - Df.Tsarnett, in amplification of fee letter be'btid forwarded to the board, said that the Royal Hospital Commission of 1921 had agreed to certain very definite conclusions *bn “fee subject of base hospitals.. He road . the Sfiruffng of fee commission on this subI jeotla# follows Ttpr commission has given much -conaidera- ! tiaa to the proposed scheme of base hospitals as outlined by the Director of Hospitals, and -'is impressed with the importance of establishing bate hospitals i with properly equipped “ Special departments. Bach special depart--Unents should include: (1) dinieaJ laboratory, -dealing with pathological, bacteriological, and bio-chemical work; (2) radiological; (3) , orthop®dic, including physio-therapy, plnster- ' room, and splint-workshop; (4) ophthalmic; '(5) ear, nose, and throat ; (6) genito-urinary, * (T) gynecological; (8) dietetics-; (9) records. (.Many of these special departments axe already installed at the four principal hospi- : tals—viz., at Auckland, "Wellington, Chrifltchurch, and Dunedin—and are doing good .jSwark, treating patients from all parte of the fidominion. The maintenance of these special ‘ departments is a costly burden on the local Hospital Boards. As the facilities afforded , are . of dominion importance, your conimission recommends a contribution from all the (dominion Hospital Boards towards the mainiitenance and development of these special deijpartmerrts at the hospitals named by a special allocation of one-twentieth of tie Gov’kmmpm*, subsidy for maintenance expenditure. If this ia strictly applied by tho Minister for fee purposes indicated great benefits will accrue to the dominion as a i.rwhole. It is imperative that these special i ‘grants should not be used for ordinary main- - tenance purposes, but only for tbe purposes * cf developing and extending the work of the i-special departments. In return for their pontnbutions all Hospital Boards should ■l ihave the right to send patients to their re- • .'epeotive base hospitals for special treatment ■ ion payment of fee ordinary maintenance fee. ;f Dr Barnett, continuing, pointed oat that Loach one of the nine requirements mens teemed was already provided for or in course ' of establishment at fee Dunedin Hospital. ■Most of these departments necessitated ex- \ pensive accommodation and equipment and (staffing, and were absolutely beyond the (’power of fee smaller hospitals to provide. Consequently a verv large expenditure was - (thrown upon the Otago Hospital Board for ‘ the provision of base hospital facilities for tthe benefit not only of its own district ’.(but of the whole of fee South Island south of fee. Waitajri River. He referred to tbe special'- arrangements for fee teaching of dietetics at fee Hospital, and the necessity lof compiling hospital records. In the ( course of time they would need more ac- , edmmodation for the records department. The only way of finding out how the work •was being done by fee staff was by keeping records. This was an important department of their research work. A genitourinary department was also to be in- * stalled, so feat patients could receive treatment from those who had made a special study of these diseases. They would need special apparatus for this work, and in ‘addition to fee nine departments he had referred to they had" feat of which Dr Pickerel! was fee head —fee facial and •jaw department—an expensive department to run. All fee money being spent was being provided by fee board, subsidised by the Government and bv special grants. The dominion, however, should bear more of the expense off fee base hospitals which treated patients outside of their own districts The smaDer, outside hospitals could not hope to treat these diseases, and if the base hospitals were to .work efficiently they should ‘be provided with the proper finance., Their hospital would then go ahead and also their Medical School. They had to make special arrangements to give large numbers of students special clinical teaching. They had teen able to meet and overcome the difficulties with which they had been faced in this connection, but they could do much better with a larger hesphal..'vCEnical work had not been supporte&?by the Government in the same way: as feeil laboratory section.. The time had corao wlien they should approach the Govfermawfieit for special, consideration, so that they(i-could keep pace with the wants of fee Medical School. " He felt strongly on this matter, arid if they put forward a HU- on* front he thought they would get favourable treatment from fee. Government. Sir Lindo Ferguson, by tmrem-itting perseverance, had been able' to obtain rauen for tho Medical School, but they had not

(ten* -so milch as regards the advancement v-of,, tiheir hcsiptal. Dr Barnett went on _ to skjvi.tbat tho Hospital Board was doing the best it could with its present income, and he felt it was not fair to saddle tho ratepayers of the Otago district with any further eecpense in view of the fact that bo many patients outside the district were to -benefit. The new subsidy arrangement ■winttfr came into force two years ago did, it was true, give them an increased income. The now subsidy arrangement provided for subsidies to the boards ranging from 14s to ; ;E£fef, '■ according to the district. Last year the Dunedin Hospital Board received 23s 3d subsidy, compared with the jwevious ftgp. ipfi I7s 3d. This yoar, however, the subsidy had been reduced, he thought, to 2?.s lOd. Immediately, however, tho increased subsidies were given effect to tho department reduced the subsidy from 24s to 20s on voluntary contributions. Tho cost of maintaining the V.D. clinic had hr-en thrown on the shoulders of the ratepayers, whereas tho Government had previously borne this cost. Ho suggested that a small committee should ho set up to draft a letter to the Prime Minister and the Department of Health urging the importance of making a special annual gram to the Dppdin Hospital by virtue of its importbase -hos»iuil ..and. g 3 JW- psaeniial (

adjunct to fee Medical School. The chairman might represent the board. Sir Lindo Ferguson tiho University, and himself the staff.

Mr Morrell seconded the motion, and -aaid that after hearing Dr Barnett they all realised fee necessities of the Dunedin Hospital. The University Council realised how fee council and the board should present a nutted front in the matter. The work done hi the hospital, united as it was wife fee Medical School, was in many respects a national work and shook} bo recognised by a irerfScraai Gwennneoi. Sir Lindo Ferguson supported Hr Barnett’s remarks. What he said applied to fee other huso hospitals of the domhnoa as well os that of Dunedin.. Dunedin, however, bad a special claim, because they had fee Medical School here. They must bo prepared to open their doom to any patient in fee dominion on the lines referred to by the commission, and they mast make their school as efficient a« it could possibly be. Apart from fee Medical School, they wanted greater assistance for their hospital. They would also have to have hostel accommodation for their senior stndents. They must have a greater number of house surgeons, and the cost of the ecctra house surgeons should be met by the Government instead of the ratepayers. Dr Batchelor said he thoroughly endorsed what Dr Barnett had said and feat the staff was quite witting to help in every way it could.

Dr Hero us suggested that the statement be followed up by a deputation, and feat Mr Sidoy, M.P., bo asked to introduce tho deputation to the Prime Minister. A motion coa the lines of Dr Barnett’s suggestion was then put and carried unanimously, the chairman of fee board, Sir Lindo Ferguson, and Dr Barnett to be the snb-cominitteo. It was decided that fee question of a deputation waiting upon the Prime Minister be left to the committee to see how feat should be carried out. The committee was given fall power to act in tho matter. THE REGENT INQUIRY* LABOUR REPRESENTATION COMMITTEE’S REPORT. A special meeting of the Otago Labour Representation Committee was held in the Trades Hall last evening, Mr F-. Jones (president) occupying the chair. There were 40 delegates representing affiliated organisations present. The following report was presented from the executive on the findings of the Hospital Board inquiry:— “Hie Otago Labour Representation Committee consider feat an independent public inquiry should be made into tbe adminirtra--(ion of the Hospital, on the grounds (1) c ‘That the present resident medical staff is overworked and underpaid, and

undue responsibilities are placed upon it dictated by fee policy of false economy ptarsued by fee board. The committee also considers that there is an understaffing of fee nursing department. (2) “The committee feels feat fee atmosphere prevailing between fee various bodies responsible for the administration of fee Hospital is not in fee best interests of fee community and should' be remedied as soon as possible. (5) “The committee considers that fee system adopted in the out-patient department is defective, in feat many of the patients have to wait a considerable time before receiving treatment. “The scope otf fee inquiry should be as wide as possible and snoiud include the whole question of staffing and administrnition, and such Committee of Inquiry should include fee representatives of all classes.” The Report was adopted.