APPEAL FOR CAUTION

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17944, 23 November 1932, Page 7

APPEAL FOR CAUTION

HOSPITAL CHANGES

MR. WILLIAMS’ .COMMENT

WIDE INQUIRY ADVOCATED

(Parliamentary Reporter.) WELLINGTON, this day

An appeal to the Cabinet to ensure that the scope of an inquiry by any commission appointed under the amendment to the 'Hospitals Act is sufficiently wide to enable full justice to be done to country districts was made by Mr lv. iS. Williams (Coal., Bay of Plenty) in the House last night. “Whilst one recognises,’' said Mr Williams, “that economies can be effected, and probably should be, in hospital management as well as in other directions, it i.s important in a scattered district such as Poverty Bay that the commission the bill seeks power to appoint should have time to inspect the district thoroughly. In this district there is not only the question of distance between the Waiapu Hospital and Gisborne. The matter of the distance that people reside away from the Waiapu Hospital will also have ito be seriously considered before the abolition of a hospital district is decided upon. I want an assurance that a commission, if it docs sit, will have time to examine thoroughly the position from that point of view. FACILITIES IN COUNTRY ■“While we are talking of economies, there is another side of our national life that must be kept in mind in connection with the amalgamation of hospital districts, especially in the country. We often.hear it said that what New Zealand needs dg -more people in the country districts. It is quite clear that we are not going to got more people to go to the country unless they can he given an assurance that thenchildren will have attention from the point of view of health and schooling. The matter of health is more important, although some might not agree with me. If 1 we have not the facilities for looking after the health of the pooplo we are not likely to persuade many people to go into the country. In'the back country districts there is a greater liability to accidents, not ■amongst families, but amongst men. for we frequently have one man working by himself, or with one. mate, in isolated parts of the country.” Mr Williams said it was for such people that some -of the country hospitals catered, rather than for those in u better position, and if a hospital was not handy to give prompt attention m an accident case the chances wore that the victim might lose a limb, or even his life. COMPREHENSIVE ACTION To workers and employers alike it was a relief to know that in the event of a mishap there was every chance of medical and surgical aid. He therefore. asked the Minister of Health to see that the order of reference of a commission was sufficiently wide to enable full justice to be done to country districts, where hospitals were as important as, if! not more important, than schools. A lot had been said about commissions and economies in relation to local body government, and he suggested to the Government that if it. was going to take away -action in the matter ;t should act in a comprehensive way. “It would be better to pause and think over the whole problem, and then appoint a commission to investigate local government in detail in the various districts,” he added. “In that way a final settlement is more likely to be reached, if an effort is to . be made to -consolidate county councils, hospital boards, harbor boards, and other bodies operating in -country areas. 1 It- is worse than useless to appoint a commission to deal with one aspect now and then six months later -appoint another that may alter county boundaries with the result that the rating districts are changed, necessitating a -third commission to deal with another problem that has arisen. . I suggest seriously to the Prime Minister and the Cabinet that, a wiser and more economical course is to examine the whole question at one time.” MUST LOOK AHEAD Mr Williams observed that a good deni of confusion existed to-day in relation to rating systems. Hospital boards demanded a levy from local bodies in their districts, and the levy [did not always fall fairly on the various contributing bodies because of the j variations in the valuations arising, 'probably, through the work being done by different valuers. In dealing with I the problem in all its aspects, he asked that every facility should be afforded !to enable evidence to be tendered on I behalf of country districts, and for-the . commissioners to visit the districts and I sec mat-tors for themselves. In that wav a commission could decide wheI ther a district was growing and whether a hospital that might not appear ' necessary at the moment would not be ( essential in five or 10 years. “I wish the commission to do that 'before any 'definite steps arc taken to 'close a country hospital,” said Mr (Williams in conclusion, “because it is so desirable that country people J should have the comfort of knowing | that there are within reach of them ! hospital facilities, including doctors, surgeons, and nurses.”