OTAGO HOSPITAL BOARD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21987, 23 June 1933, Page 12

OTAGO HOSPITAL BOARD

MONTHLY MEETING The monthly meeting of the Otago Hoopital Board was held last evening, and was attended by the chairman (Mr W. E. S. Knight) and Messrs A. F. Quelch, D, McLennan, J. W. Dove, H. S. Sheat, A. Steel, F. Jones, M.P., Dr Newlands, Mrs Ross, Miss Runciman, and Miss Farquhar. MONTHLY STATISTICS The financial superintendent submitted the following statistics in respect of Dunedin Hospital for May:—Remaining on April 30, 247; admitted, 410; discharged and died, 394; remaining on May 31, 263; out-patients, 1844. —Noted. NEW MATERNITY HOSPITAL. A deputation representing the- Council of the University of Otago, and consisting of the vice-chancellor (Mr L. Deans Ritchie), Sir Lindo Ferguson, Professor J. B. Dawson, and Dr J. Fitzgerald, waited on the board to request it to reaffirm its proposal to have erected forthwith in Dunedin a new and adequate maternity hospital, and to join with the council and the Obstetric Society in a deputation to Wellington to wait on the Minister of Health, and urge on him the necessity of having this work carried out immediately. The deputation’s representations were heard in committee, and it was decided that Dr Newlands should represent the board on the deputation to the Minister. It was intimated that the other inembers of the deputation would be Sir Lindo Ferguson and Professor Dawson, representing the University Council, and Dr Irving, of Christchurch, representing the Obstetric Society. NEW ADMINISTRATION BLOCK. The secretary reported that in accordance with instructions from the Hospital Committee, the Works Committee conferred with the members of the, honorary visiting staff of the Dunedin Hospital in connection with the proposed new administration block, Dunedin Hospital, when there were present Messrs Dove (chairman), Knight, Steel, Dr Newlands, Sir H. Lindo Ferguson, Drg Kerens and Speight, and Mr White. The medical superintendent (Dr J. Thomson), and the architect (Mr P. V. Wales). The amended sketch plans submitted by the architect, along with the previous plans, were fully considered. The members of the honorary medical staff intimated that the staff as a whole wag against the adoption of the plans as now submitted on the recommendation of the director-general, that it considered the area was too small, the place- was too crowded, and would not give the facilities expected. The staff was to forward a report containing its objections. It was not anticipated that the money available would provide for the erection of the whole building forthwith, and it wag resolved to recommend that thu main portion only of this administration block be proceeded with, on the plan with slight detail alterations as might be arranged between the medical superintendent and the architect, and that the architects be instructed to submit a definite plan of the present proposal. The erection of the new block would permit of the removal of the present old administration block, which was acknowledged to be in an unsafe condition. The question of, any future erections or the use of this site could then be determined later in accordance with the requirements of the times and necessities of the hospital. The report was approved, and it was decided that a! copy,; along with copies of the amended plans and the staffs report, be forwarded to the department. DEPARTMENTAL CONTROL RESENTED. The Director-general of Health wrote advising that the Minister of Health, to whom the board’s estimates for 1933-34 had been submitted, was, in the absence of fuller details, not prepared to approve the estimates. The writer asked for information as to the amount of grants made last year to-the Dowling street depot, and for the maintenance of men in the Salvation Army Shelter as well as to the Unemployment Committee. He wished to emphasise that not only was the department desirous that boards should; adhere to the policy adopted at the representative conference held in April last as to the respective - responsibilities of the hospital boards and the Unemployment Board, but it was under some difficulty in determining the allocation of subsidies owing to the relatively limited amount available. Unless the department could receive a reasonable assurance that the board was adhering to the policy referred to, it proposed to recommend the Minister to require amendment of the estimates. The secretary reported that he had supplied the necessary information, and had given an assurance that the board was adhering to the policy laid down at the conference as to the respective responsibilities of hospital boards and the Unemployment Board. He had pointed oiit, however, that the board was finding it difficult to withstand applications for assistance for unemployed men during the “ stand-down ” weeks in the suburban districts. , / ; 'The chairman said that the estimates had been held up for what: they might cal] more or less trivial reasons, and it must be clear, to every member that the board was subjected to too much departmental interference. The board had to be clear of debt by April of each year, and if its estimates were cut down it would find itself running into an overdraft, and 50 per cent, of this would be passed on to the ratepayers. Mr Dove said that if they had to be told by the departmental heads in Wellington that they did not know the conditions in their own town, it was time that the board asserted itself. The Minister of Employment (Mr A. Hamilton) would be coming to Dunedin next week, and a deputation from the board should meet him and put the position strongly before him so that the case could be represented to the departmental heads at the earliest opportunity. It seemed a pity that the board could not get away from the departmental heads altogether. Mr Quelch said that if the authorities could see the distress that existed in his district (Mosgiel) they would not tie the board down so much. Many of the unemployed were getting only three weeks work in the month, and it was impossible for them to live on it. The fact remained that it was only the chanty ot the people that was keeping them going, and as this could not last much longer, he hoped the board would assist in urging on the Minister the necessity of allowing four weeks’ work in the suburban districts.

Mr Steel asked if, at the recent conference between the executive of the Hospital Boards’ Association and the authorities, it had not been agreed that the Unemployment Board, and not the hospital boards, should be responsible for the' support of “A” and * B class men. The chairman said that at the conference in question, which had been attended by the Minister of Employment, the Minister of Public Health, the members of the Unemployment Board, and the executive of the Hospital Boards’ Association, it had been unanimously agreed that A and “B” class men should be the sole responsibility of the Unemployment Board, and that the hospital boards should look after the “C ” class men. The Otago Board had fought from the beginning to be relieved of the responsibility of providing for unemployed able-bodied men, and had maintained that it was the duty of the State to.find them wages and sustenance. The board had also fought for the abolition of “ stand-down week, and had been successful as far ,? s . th ® centres were concerned; but why districts like Green Island and Ravensbourne should be classed as outside the centres it was difficult to say. The plight of some people at present was appalling, and the necessity for the abolition of “stand-down” week in the suburban areas could not be urged too strongly on the Minister. . Mr Jones expressed pleasure that tue board was taking exception to the miserable economies of the Unemployment Board. The Government had promised, as soon as “ stand-down ” week was abolished, to extend the abolition to the country districts, but it had not done so. He certainly thought the board should meet the Minister and thrash the matter out. Mr Steel contended that the Government was not carrying out its share ot the contract entered into at Wellington whereby it agreed to look after the A and “ B ” class men.

The chairman gave an assurance that the board would do all it could, but, personally, he thought it a matter for the local members of Parliament. Mr Dove said that Mr A. E. Ansell, M.P., had already arranged for a deputation to wait on the Minister, and he thought the board should b« represented.

The chairman, Mr Steel, and Mrs Ross were appointed as members of the deputation, and the letter was received. COMMITTEE REPORTS. The reports of the Benevolent, Sanatorium, Hospital, and Finance Committees were adopted without discussion.