HOSPITAL TRUSTEES.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XXXIV, Issue 10963, 4 May 1907, Page 4

HOSPITAL TRUSTEES.

The monthly meeting of the above was ' held at 7.30 last evening. Present : Tlio Chairman (Hon. Captain Tucker), Messrs Harding, Matthews, F. J. Lysnar, Bright, Tuohy, Mac Donald, H. Kenway, and A. Dewing. Correspondence of a formal nature was dealt with. REPORTS. The monthly report as to tlie patients treated at the Hospital stated : Jk.iuihiing from last month 29, admitted since 11, discharged 11, died 2, remaining at date 27. Tlie treasurer's monthly report showed : • Receipts : Patients' fees £l,~subscriptions ; £1 6s, interest £24, amount at credit at ' Bank of New Zealand, April 19th, £89 ' 14s ld ; total, £116 Os ld. Expenditure : Accounts passed April- 19th £149 lis 9d, ! cheque book 10s ; total. £150 ls 9d. I Bank: Credit balance Bank. of New Zealand £30 19s, cheques not presented £65 o.* Bd. Debit balance £34 ls Bd. Dis- . trict Board requisition, due April ZOth, £187 10s. Accounts presented herewith, salaries £59 5s 4d. Mr Tuohy : The patients' fees received are the lowest on record. * The Chairman : We must have more attention paid to that point. Mr Harding remarked that the amount of the accounts for payment at the meeting waa also the smallest on record. VISITING COMMITTEE. Messrs Lysnar, Matthews, and the . Gliairman, tlie Visiting Committee for the month, reported that f they found everything at tlie Hospital going on as usual, and satisfactory. The Chairman said he found thing, as he had always done. No one made any complaints t 0 liim. He visited particularly one of the patients, about whom, there had been' some correspondence. He made particular enquiries about him, and found that he* was progressing satisfactorily. _ The patient himself expressed satisfaction .with the attention he was receiving and the improvement he was making.. He was glad to be able to inform them that the nursing staff had , been increased, and was thoroughly adequate. There were now thr.e registered nurses, ipstead of one." and the new nuTs.es appeared to be favorably impressed with tlie hospital.- One had come from Homo and the other from "Australia^ where they bad seen the conduct of institutions on a very much larger scale. The nurse from Home, whose appointment was a temporary one, had expressed her regret that her stay here would be so brief. j Mr Bright asked who selected the nurses. He thought the matter should be m the Trustees' hands.. j The Chairman said the Matron appointed the nurses. Tf the Trustees wished that tiny nurse should be discharged they had only to inform the Matron, and it would be done. As for the Trustees choosing' the nurses, he would be absolutely at sea if he had to select a nurse from anywhere. | Mr Kenway took the same view, and said the Trustees would not do it. i The Gliairman said, the Matron apparently kept herself m touch with the nurses. If a nurse was registered it . was presumed that she was qapable. Tlie (Matron m appointing the .'.nurses had ! nqt acted without, being told to do so. The Chairman had told her, particularly at the time there was a scarlet fever outbreak, to get another nurse, and to be auite sure that tlie staff was adequate. j The Matron had replied that it was dSffi-;cult.-to get them straight away, but following on what he had said had obtained tlie services of the two new. nurses. Mr Matthew^: saidT he, thought this question would have come ufi with his . notice of motion. , ''--.The ..Chairman, .Messrs Matthews, and ' Mac Donald were ; appointed a Visiting Committee for the ensuing month. SECRETARY'S SERVICES. The matter of the .remdneration the _ secretary (Mr T. A. Cohanan) received was .brought. n_t» and members .expressed their thorough satisfaction with his ser- ' vices, together with tlieir sense at the increase m the work he was called on to .attend to on behalf of the hospital. r) On Mr Kenway's motion, it was unanimously resolved jo increase the secretary's ; salary from £60" to £100 a year, and place on r-ecord the ' Trustees' appreciation of the very valuable services Mr Coleman had rendered the institution. '-,:'• i ADMINISTRATIVE MATTERS> ii The Chairman said it was necessary for ' the Trustees, if they wished for peace and j. quietness, to, pass a resolution' requiring lan outside doctor, to get an order.. from the I Trustees before he could be adtflitted to ' tlie hospital to attend patients'," The Chairman gave notice of motion to this effect, although be did not know that it was compulsory to do so. In reply to questions, Captain Tucker explained that this was not altering any ■ previous rule of the hospital.' His motion would lay down that the 'hospital super-' intendent must not admit another doctor to the institution to attend patients without the sanction of the Trustees. Tlie secretary -stated that what the Chairman proposed did not vary any existing rule. It was a new rule. Mr Matthews : Is not that included m my notice' of motion? Tlie Chairman said it was a dangerous thing to , go on without such a rule: Mr* Lysnar said he understood a committee had beeh set up to deal wjth this. Mr Harding stated the committee had been waiting for^the appointment of the new surgeon before going into the matter. ■■ > T" | ; Tlie Oiainnftij ..proposed that tlie Trustees instruet-tl|i^tommittee to draw up a l rule on the lineS of hie motion, that the ■ hospital superintendent must not admit to the institution another doctor with the object of visiting patients without the sanction of tho Trusees. Mr Lysnar : Tli-& whole of the Trustees or the Chairman. The Chairman : The Chairman may act, no doubt, m matters that he think, that the Trustees would do. " Air Kenway did not think they -Could give instructions to the committee to include that rule, which was a contentious matter. Ifc was a power that the medical superintendent should have alone. Captain Tucker : Perhaps the superintendent would not want it, aud would rather the Trustees refused the other man. Mr Bright: Thie Chairman wants the Trustees to act as a buffer between the doctors;. -Mr Kenway :. Tliat gives new light on ■■ it. . Tlie Chairman :■ You know what has. happetaed lately. Tlie superintendent refused m one case, and I think it would be best not to leave him m tbe position of having to refuse. The Chairman's motion was parried unanimously. Mr Kenway said there \vas a further] matter mentioned hi a letter received some time ago m regard to the administration of the hospital. He sup2>osed tliis could not come up until the new superintendent was appointed. The Cfliairman : I think we ' postponed that iso as. to ask him what he wished. Mr Tuohy : Witli regard to what has just been disposed of, I think it should be narrowed down to, say, the Visiting Committee at the time, and not the Trustees as a whole. Tlie Chairman said he thought it might be left as it Mas. __