HOSPITAL BOARDS’ CONFERENCE.

Shannon News, 28 March 1929, Page 4

HOSPITAL BOARDS’ CONFERENCE.

PALMERSTON NORTH BOARD’S WELCOME.

The delegate at the Hospital Conference at Palmerston North were welcomed by Sir J. G. Wilson, chairman - of the Palmerston North Hospital

- Board, Who hoped that the conference would not only be useful but also a , happy one. Hospital boards had a great mission in the world and he was glad he had been able to give service to the community in that direction. The conference president,, Mr. Wal-

lace, then introduced the Minister, Hon. A. J. StallwOrthy, and asked him to open the proceedings. Fortunate Country. The Minister congratulated the '■ boards on the wfark they were doing throughout New Zealand. It was a ‘ work' that called for courage, sympathy and business acumen and the country was fortimate in having many capable business men at the head of the administrative affairs of the boards. It

was a work of inestimable value which ■ - had an*immediate relation to the lives and happiness of the people and could net be adequately measured in terms of money. It had an economic as well as humanitarian value and it called 1 for many sacrifices. On both the professional and lay sides, hospital administration was rapidly becoming a science per se. “We have need to congratulate ourselves upon the excellent character of our medical, nursing and administrative staffs,' '. added the Minister, “and we have to remember that whatever may be the cost of our hospitals, it would be more costly to be without them.” As conveying some idea of the responsibilities of hospital boards and of the magnitude of their operations, it was interesting to note that the property under the control of the boards ap,proxiniated £5,000,000. The total annual expenditure was over £2,000,000 —a sum equal to the Defence vote and half the Education vote. The nunir ber of institutions under boards and the Department was 161. The’number of hospital beds provided was 8000. the number of hospital in-patients treated in 1928 approximately ‘BO,OOO, and the cost per occupied bed approximated £2OO per annum. . flexible System.

Hon. Stallworthy remarked that he 1 was exceedingly glad that the hospi: tals were not being administered from Wellington. New Zealand had a very flexible system of hospital management, given the individual ’boards power within certain limits, to’ undertake innovations and work out their own destination along lines best suited to themselves. 1

The Minister said he had been very

interested in the remits to be discussed by the conference and had answered each one according to his own way of thinking and he would be very interested to learn of the decision arrived at' by the conference. He hoped the eonference would also enable the delegates to take back with them' a new inspiration in the noble work. J.’he chairman Welcomed Dr. Watt, acting-Director-General in the absence of Dr. Yalintine abroad.