A SEARCH FOR INFORMATION

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24633, 14 June 1941, Page 15

A SEARCH FOR INFORMATION

TO THE EDITOR Sir, —May I encroach on your valuable space a little to ventilate the journeyings of one who was seeking information regarding the medical supplies as per social security. In the first instance I naturally went to the Post Office and asked the “ inquiry officer’’ to give me a direction in the matter. He did not know, but directed me to the Social Security office window in the G.P.O. The officer there directed me to go to the Social Security office in the old Telegraph Office building, and from there I was advised to go to the seventh floor in the G.P.O. It was 12.45 when I got back to the building at which I first inquired. The Health Department’s office was closed between 12 and 1 for lunch, so, waiting 15 minutes, I received the information to go to the maternity home, where the form was procurable. Surely it would not be too much to expect the “information officer” to be conversant with the offices in the same building, and thus avoid a lot of unnecessary waste of time and running about. Further, couldn’t the Health Department arrange its staff’s lunch hour so that the office could be opened to the public all day instead of being closed between 12 and 1, or must all the staff have lunch at one time? The maternity home’s principals supply the forms, as I eventually found out. and these required more running around to complete. Surely the department could arrange with the maternity hospital to supply the necessary medical requirements and have them charged against medical benefits and thus save clients time and inconvenience—l am. etc., Maternity. Dunedin, June 13.