HOSPITAL BOARD

Southland Times, Issue 20200, 10 June 1927, Page 5

HOSPITAL BOARD

MONTHLY MEETING HELD. The monthly meeting of the Southland Hospital Board was held yesterday afternoon. Present: Mr J. Matheson (chairman), Miss Drysburgh, Messrs F. Bowmar, W. Clark, T. Golden, G. Wraytt, H. T. Niven, W. M. Norman, J. S. McDougall, J. W. Miller, T. Rhodes and C. Robertson. NEW AMBULANCE CHASSIS. Among the correspondence dealt with by the board was a letter from Messrs P. H. Vickery advising that the board’s two ambulance chassis were on board the Rotorua, due to reach Bluff within the next two days. The firm asked if the board wished both the ambulances delivered in Invercargill or one or both at Gore; It was decided to instruct the company to assemble the vehicles in Invercargill. SECRETARY’S REPORT. The secretary, Mr T. Pryde, reported that the glazing of the whole front of the Kew Sanatorium patients’ pavilions had been attended to and this, besides doing away with the unsatisfactory and expensive canvas screens, would make matters more comfortable for the patients. General repairs to the outside of the Nurses’ Home, Kew, had been attended to, the different buildings being now ready for painting when the weather was suitable. The matter of improving the heating arrangements for the patients’ sitting-rooms at the Sanatorium at Kew had been gone into, and he recommended the installation of a suitable stove in the male and female patients’ sitting rooms and the cutting off . of the hot water radiators from the present boiler. DOCTORS’ REPORTS. The Medical Superintendent of the Southland Hospital, Dr. A. Owen-Johnson, reported that on April 30, 92 patients remained in hospital, 108 were admitted during the month, 90 were discharged, four had died, and 106 remained on May 31. At Kew 12 remained on April 30, six were admitted during the month, four had been discharged, and one had died, the number remaining on May 31, being 13. At Gore the patients remaining on May 1 numbered 21. During the month 33 were admitted and 36 discharged. Two had died, the number remaining on June 1 being 16. The number of patients remaining at the Lake County Hospital on May 1 was 5. During the month seven were admitted, five were discharged and one died, the number remaining on June 1 being six. The Matron of Lome Farm reported that on May 1, 21 patients ■were in residence. During the month one patient was admitted and one discharged, 21 remaining at the institution of June 1. During the month of May four patients were admitted to the Lumsden Maternity Hospital. Two of these were discharged, the remaining two being still at the institution on June 1. EXECUTIVE BUSINESS. The following business done in committee in the morning was confirmed in open board:— The committee reported having received fourteen tenders for the erection of the Nurses’ Home at Gore Hospital, and had referred same to the Public Works Department for report. The Health Department also forwarded amended plans for the alterations to the hospital kitchen, staff quarters and nurses’ dining room, which were to be referred to Dr. Rogers for consideration before adoption. The matters of roading and the removal of the morgue at Gore Hospital were left in the hands of Mr Rhodes to confer with Dr. Rogers and the board’s office. For the position of Matron at Lome Infirmary, a report was received from the Direc-tor-General of Health regarding the qualifications of the different applicants, and the committee recommended the appointment of Miss Ethel Turner, at present a sister in Gore Hospital, at a commencing salary of £175 per annum. The committee reported having received the resignation of the board’s accountant, Mr P. D. Edmonds, owing to his appointment to the position of secretary to the Vincent Hospital Board, the same being accepted with regret, and the matter of the filling of the vacancy and the re-arrange-ment of the board’s' office staff was left in the hands of the chairman, Mr Niven and the secretary to bring forward a report and recommendation .to next meeting of the board. Accounts and salaries totalling £6195 0/6 were recommended to the board for payment. Matron Ross, Southland Hospital, was granted annual leave and certain small requisitions for the hospital were recommended to be granted. The matter of a house surgeon at Southland Hospital at the end of Dr. Taylor’s term was left in the hands of the chairman, secretary and medical superintendent with power to act. The secretary reported on the visit made by Mr McDougall, Dr. Owen-Johnston and himself in connection with the district nursing arrangements at Stewart Island, and the report as a whole was adopted and the arrangements made by Mr McDougall in the direction of a monthly visit by Dr. Torrance, Bluff, to Stewart Island, approved. It was decided to make a grant of £lO to the funds of the Gore Clothing ’Club. The secretary submitted a list of fresh applications for outdoor relief which were dealt with according to their circumstances, while owing to so much unemployment a great many cases of casual assistance had been dealt with during the month, the weekly expenditure on outdoor relief at present being £4l 5/- as against £29 9/6 for the corresponding month last year. The secretary was directed to act in the matter of the transfer of a Southland patient from King George Hospital, Rotorua, to Southland; also to use his own discretion in the realisation of a deceased estate for which he had been granted a letter of administration on behalf of the board. The secretary reported having interviewed the Otago Hospital Board in connection with an old standing claim of £702 11/- for maintenance of Southland patients in the Otago Board’s institutions prior to entering into a reciprocal agreement with the Otago Board in October last, and his recommendation that the majority of these accounts be paid was recommended to the board for approval.