WAIKATO HOSPITAL

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 58, Issue 4187, 22 May 1939, Page 4

WAIKATO HOSPITAL

THIS YEAR’S ESTIMATES. INTERESTING COMPARISONS. MAINTENANCE COSTS INCREASED. Interesting details of the Waikato Board’s finances are contained in a copy of the estimates kindly supplied to the Chronicle, Te Kuiti, by the member of that district, Mrs C. K. Wilson. The nett requirements of the Board will increase, it- is estimated, from £82,529 in 1938-39 to £123,119 in 1939-40. The cost of maintenance, estimated to rise by £38,012 to £114,333 is the principal factor involved in increasing the nett requirement by 49.18 per cent, over 1938-39. Factors involved in this increase include that the Board completed the year with a cash deficit of £14,645, an increase of £10,790 over the previous year. In estimating for the current year the Board based its figures on an average daily number of occupied beds of 578 for all institutions under its control, as against 491.6 actual for the previous year. The amount spent at the Te Kuiti Hospital had during the year exceeded the estimates by £199, and it had been necessary in providing for the current year’s requirements to make £5200 available for the Te Kuiti Hospital against £4600 last year.

After expressing disappointment with the collections of patients’ fees amounting to £37,786, the schedule states:—

“No definite information has .yet been received in regard to the Hospital Boards Section of the Social Security Act, and in the meantime the Board has prepared its estimates in the manner which has been customary in the past. It is possible, however, that when the hospital benefits under the Act come into operation, the amount received from patients’ fees will exceed the amount estimated by the Board, and provided the expenditure does not increase the Board’s finances will show a saving on the present estimates, the benefit of which will be passed on to the local contributory authorities next year.” Probably the most interesting portion of the schedule is the statistical summary comparing other hospital costs for the year ended .March 31, 1938, and the increase in patients treated and in the levies upon local bodies.

The maintenance costs per occupied bed and the rate of levy per pound of rateable capital value, compared as follows:

In the following comparison, the total amount of the levies of the Waikato Hospital Board are given in the first column, the number of patients treated in the second, and the capital value of the district in millions of pounds in the third:— Value

Institution. Beds. Levy Rate. Auckland 259 ,420d Wellington 212 ,455d Waikato 164 ,254d Dominion Av. .387d

Period. Levy. Patients Millions. 1928-29 £34,734 4,458 5,260 £39 1929-30 34,777 39 1930-31 36,345 5,530 40 1931-32 27,783 5,804 39 1932-33 27,609 28,369 5,502 5,858 40 1933-34 40 1934-35 29,087 7,536 40 1935-36 29,001 7,724 39 1936-37 32,084 7,866 39 1937-38 38,812 7,966 40 1938-39 44,237 41 1939-40 62,548 43