Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, TUESDAY, NOV. 29, 1932. THE HOSPITALS BILL

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIX, Issue 17949, 29 November 1932, Page 4

Poverty Bay Herald PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING GISBORNE, TUESDAY, NOV. 29, 1932. THE HOSPITALS BILL

An interesting and thoughtful con* tribution to the debate in the House on the Hospitals Amendment Bill was made by the member for Bay of' Plenty, Mr. Williams, .who, while not generally critical of the measure, drew attention to what lie considered undesirable features. While admitting scope for economies in hospital administration, Mr. Williams urged that ample opportunity should be given to the commissions to thoroughly inspect the districts concerned and to ensure that country areas should not be unduly penalised. Quite wisely, he pointed out the desirability of en couraging people to move from the cities to the land, and emphasised that this object would be difficult to attain if the country districts were to be denied adequate facilities for attending to the health of the community. With this view most people will agree, but there is room for a wide difference of opinion as to what constitute reasonable facilities. Mr. Williams quoted the case of the Waiapu Hospital, and it is assumed that he would be opposed to the merging of that district with Gisborne. It is conceivable, however, that the residents of the East (’oast would be better served in the mat tor of surgical and medical treatment, if the .work w T erc centralised in Gisborne as has been suggested. Such a proposal need not involve -the complete closing 6f the Waiapu .institution, but it could be utilised merely as a branch hospital for the treatment of urgent cases. Wairoa could be placed in a similar category, and in that case the great bulk of the work would be concentrated in Gisborne. Under this scheme, instead of the district being called upon to support, three hospitals, each with limited facilities, the same population would have at its disposal, for loss cost, one institution that, would be capable of rendering better service. It is manifestly impossible for small hospital districts to support a staff ol experts and provide all modern appliances and conveniences for the treatment of injuries and disease, but; with the aggregate revenue made available for the administration of one baso hospital there would! be more than sufficient to warrant a greatly Improved service, and there would be a considerable saving in administrative costs. It is true, as Mr. Williams said, tlint prompt attention .is. frequently necessary to deal with accident cases, but it must not. be overlooked that for every accident case that goes to hospital there would probably be, on an average, at; least ten other cases that would reap untold benefits from specialised treatment which cannot bo provided under the existing system. That, ,in short, is the real object of the proposed amalgamation of boards —not the withdrawal of facilities from small districts, but; the provision of a more complete and more comprehensive service at a convenient centre. It would still be necessary, perliaps, to maintain subsidiary stations .in various localities, but experience would probably show that with the vastly improved transport conditions it would be only in very rare instances that a patient could not be moved to the base hospital, where the availability of a highly-skilled staff and modern appliances would enhance the prospects of recovery. A second point raised by Mr. Williamsthat is deserving of further consideration by the Government is the advisability of including the proposed hospital reorganisation in a comprehensive scheme dealing with local body government generally. For some years now there lias been talk of a complete investigation into this question with the primary object of eliminating some of the many authorities that are at present an unnecessary drain on the finances of the country. It was stated

by the Minister of Internal Affairs only a few months ago that it was intended to set up a commission to examine this matter, but once again the proposal appears to have been forgotten, If there is to be a consolidation of county councils, hospital noards, harbor boards, and some of tiic other many boards, it can only be effected by Government action, for it is clear that the bodies concerned will not act oil their own initiative. If il

is now intended to inquire into the position of hospital districts—and that, ton, can only be brought about by direct Government; action-—it would surely lie. wise to adopt. Mr. Williams suggestion and deal with the whole question of local government at one and the same time, for it would be absurd, as ho has pointed out, for a hospital commission to reach a decision and then, a few months later, have it nullified by the findings of another body dealing with county councils. Possibly the best procedure would be to have special commissions appointed, one for each island, to thoroughly investigate local body control in all its aspects and to make recommendations to the Government for the anmlgamulion of various districts or authorities in the inleresis, not only of economy and efficiency, but also of ratepayers and residents. By this means a greater measure, of uniformity would be obtained at less expense, and by placing the onus oi action on the Minister himself there would be a better prospect of securing prompt results. The need for greater local body activities is so important a question that every effort should be made to bring it about with the least possible delay, and if it is understood at the outset that tinobject, as with hospitals, is not- to reduce services or facilities, but to improve them and to reduce the cost oi them, then the movement will receive the general support of the public.