HOSPITAL COSTS

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 54, Issue 3893, 23 April 1937, Page 12

HOSPITAL COSTS

INCREASE IN THE WAIKATO. HIGHER LEVY NECESSARY. The Waikato Hospital Board’s estimates, which were approved at a Board meeting at Hamilton yesterday, provide for the expenditure of £72,566 during the current year, £8045 on capital items, and £64,521 on maintenance. Of this amount £38,804 is required to bo found by the contributing local bodies, an increase of £6720 over last year, while £33,762 will be paid by way of Government subsidy, which is based at the rate of 17s 2d in the pound. The subsidy will be increased by £6072 compared with last year. The board authorised increases in salaries totalling £4600 a year, £2OOO of which is being paid in increases to nurses. Practically all members of the staff benefit by the board’s decision. Probationer nurses will commence at £4O a year, instead of at £3O as in the past, while the salaries of the principal officers will be raised to the amounts previously paid by the board. Referring to the board's finances, the chairman, Mr J. J. Ryburn, said there was a deficit of only £548 in the balance sheet for the year ended March 31 last. This, he thought, was very satisfactory indeed in view of the increased costs of the last few months. On the other hand, the increase in the invalidity and old age pensions would relieve the board's finances to the extent of £4760 a year. Mr Ryburn said the increased costs had meant an increase in the levies ot 20.9 per cent for the current year. The board employed a staff of 380, of whom 285 lived in. The average number ot patients in all the hospitals was 450, so the board had to provide accommodation for 735 people.