OBSTETRIC HOSPITAL

Otago Daily Times, Issue 22064, 21 September 1933, Page 2

OBSTETRIC HOSPITAL

PROPOSED NEW BUILDING OBJECTION TO ST. HELENS LETTER TO MR COATES The following is a copy of a letter recently sent to the Acting Prime Minister (Mr J. G. Coates) from the secretary of the Otago Hospital Board in connection with the proposed new maternity hospital:— Referring to the proposed obstetric hospital which was brought under your notice by Sir James Allen on August 20 last, and to the correspondence which has taken place between Sir James and yourself which was submitted confidentially to the board and the Otago University Council, I have the honour to inform you that a conference was held between these two bodies and the following resolution was adopted:— “ That in the opinion of this conference the taking over after reconditioning and extension of the St. Helens Hospital does not form a satisfactory basis of settlement for the question of the maternity hospital either from the financial, educational or humanitarian point of view.”

Perhaps it would be as well for the following statement being brought under your notice;— In 1929 a definite offer was made by the Government to provide the sum of £50,000 for the land, buildings and equipment for this obstetric hospital in Junedin, that such hospital be placed under the control of this board, and to accommodate such cases as could not provide for private medical attention, and for the training of students and maternity nurses. This was to take the place of the present St. Helens and Batchelor Hospitals, and in consequence of the extra expense to be placed on the Otago Hospital Board by the larger hospital, a special grant by the Government of £2OOO per annum for five years was to be made to this board with the suggestion that such could be reviewed at the expiry to ascertain whether it should be continued for a further period or not. The same obligations of the Government of 1929 are still with the Government of to-day. The delay in arriving at unanimity regarding the site, and perhaps the present depression, caused the matter to be further held over.

The Otago Hospital Board, Otago University Council, medical faculty and honorary visiting staff are now unanimous on the site suitable for the erection of this building, that is sections 52 and 53, black XXIII, Dunedin, adjoining the Nurse’s Home and adjacent to the Dunedin Hospital, and steps are being taken to have legal options over the property completed. The board is prepared, subject to the Minister’s approval, to acquire this property at a cost of £2750. The purchase of the land, of course, will be contingent upon, and subject to tile Government undertaking to build thereon, and equip a 24 bedded hospital which has been estimated to cost £25,000. The previous proposal is therefore reduced to less than half that originally offered, and in addition the board is prepared to forego the previous promise of the Government to provide £2OOO per annum for'at least five years with a possible extension thereof. The professor of obstetrics, in submitting the plans, states that while they are merely suggestive and have been utilised only as a basis of calculation, they do not necessarily represent the final ideas, but are to'show that the building will go on a site measuring 152 feet by 100 feet, and the estimated cost of such a building is £24,000. All the authorities interested are unanimous in their decision that to spent any money at all on St. Helens Hospital in an attempt to make it suitable for the purpose intended would be absolute waste of public money. In the original proposal put forward an estimate was given as £4OOO, and your estimate states that the cost involved would be between £6OOO and £7OOO, and it is even doubtful if this expenditure would serve the purpose intended. However, seeing that there is a suggestion that the Government is prepared to find up to £7OOO, it is now respectfully suggested that the total amount asked for from the Government would be £20,500 made up as follows: — Estimated cost of building .. £25,000 Less subsidy on wages .. 3,000 £22,000 Less selling value on St. Helens .. .. 1,500 £20,500 Suggested cost of reconditioning St. Helens £7,000 Further amount required for the erection of the new bldek 13,500 £20,500

This amount would not be required in the current financial year, but £7OOO, or say £IO,OOO, would be necesary to be available this year and the balance in the next financial year, as it would be impossible to spend the total amount prior to March 31, next. A memorandum from the Dean of the Medical Faculty on the correspondence between Sir James Allen and yourself has been prepared and is submitted herewith.

The principal arguments that can now be added to impress upon you the necessity to provide an up-to-date hospital can be summarised as follows: — 1. If the alterations to St. Helens are made it would bo a patch upon a building over 60 years old, there would be accommodation for only two students, whereas it should be for five or six, and it would be an absolute waste of public money to spend such a large amount on this old building. • 2. It is doubtful if the training of students in the altered St. Helens would be satisfactory to the General Medical Council. 3. That the money can be better utilised as the nucleus this year for the proposed new building. 4. That the previous offer made by the Government has been considerably modified from £50,000 to the modest sum of £20,500 and the grant of £2OOO for at least five years has been eliminated. 5. St Helens as a separate institution could not be run as economically

as a block of the main hospital. It is now hoped that you will give favourable consideration to this matter and that the authority of the Government will-be forthcoming for the erection of this much needed building to bring the medical school of the whole Dominion more into line with modern requirements.