HOSPITAL PLIGHT

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19372, 9 July 1937, Page 5

HOSPITAL PLIGHT

NOT SUFFICIENT BEDS PUBLIC AND PRIVATE PATIENTS TURNED AWAY DOCTOR VOICES CONCERN (Special to the Herald.) AUCKLAND, this day. Auckland faces a very real shortage in hospital accommodation. During recent months the medical superintendent of the Auckland Hospital, Dr. J. W! Craven, has frequently impressed- on the members of the board that the institution cannot provide beds for-allprbspective patients, and it now appears that the same state of affairs exists in a majority of the leadmg private hospitals.

"For some time now we have been turning away as many as six patients a day," said the matron in charge of one of the largest private hospitals in the city yesterday. "It is not a case of a seasonal increase in sickness with more people requiring hospital treatment over a short period, but a sustained demand for private hospital accommodation."

Period of Eighteen Months

Another matron stated that for the last 18 months there had hardly been a vacant bed in the private hospital which she conducted. The doctors were becoming concerned about the position. In addition to the difficulty in finding hospital accommodation there was also a shortage of efficient trained nurses for private practice in the patients' homes.

The matter was referred last evening to Dr. Craven, who said that the Auckland Hospital was crowded with waiting lists in many departments. He had heard that the same difficulty was being experienced by private hospitals, and this confirmed his opinion.

"I have said before that in the event of a serious epidemic or a major disaster we would have the gravest aifflculty in providing adequate hospital accommodation," said Dr. Craven. "If two tramcars were to be involved in a crash in Queen street with 30 or 40 people injured I do not know how we could cope with the position."