SURVEY SOUGHT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26775, 19 May 1948, Page 4

SURVEY SOUGHT

HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATION

DEMAND FOR SERVICES P.A. NEW PLYMOUTH, May 18. Consideration should be given to the reorganisation of the institutions responsible for the Dominion’s hospital requirements, said the chairman of the Taranaki Hospital Board, Mr P. E. Stainton, at the annual meeting to-day. He also advocated closer co-operation between groups of hospital boards. Mr Stainton suggested that the time was opportune for a survey of the Hospital and Charitable Institutions Act in relation to present and future requirements throughout the Dominion. From his knowledge of the difficulties under which the Health Department was labouring and the colossal aggregate demand from hospital boards throughout the Dominion, it appeared that such a survey was warranted. Rapid growth and the demand for health services had outstripped the existing organisation responsible for dealing with the demands. It was quite unfair to expect the existing organisation, with its lack of qualified architects and engineers, to cope with the demands. This was probably responsible for the congested and disorderly position prevailing to-day. “With the rapid change and development of hospital services and administration, boundaries in many instances are becoming outdated,” Mr Stainton said. The stabilising of the hospital rate had so substantially reduced the need for boundaries that the way was clear for the closest collaboration between groups of hospital boards.