HOSPITAL RATE

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 72, Issue 6241, 12 June 1946, Page 11

HOSPITAL RATE

STRIKING DEFERRED ACTION BY RANGITIKEI COUNTY Decision to defer the striking of a hospital rate unt ilafter the New Zealand counties’ conference in July, when the question of hospital rating will be fullv discussed, was made at the annual meeting of the Rangitikei County Council in. Marton. The fact that the council’s hospital rate had risen from £Bll5 in 1935-6 to £25,507 in 1946-7—a rise of 214.3 per cent in 11 years—showed clearly the increased cost to the county, stated the council chairman, Cr K. W. Dalrymple, in his report. “The recommendation of the Parliamentary Committee on Local Government, if given effect to, will distribute the cost of hospitals more equitably, than under the present system,” said Cr Dalrymple, “but the main part of the question has not yet been taken up seriously—is all this hospital treatment necessary? Dr P. P. Lynch, New Zealand representative of the British Medical Association, is reported to have told the Parliamentary Select Committee on Population that it is plain to any medical observer that our hospital beds are occupied by a large number of patients who are not really suitable for hospital treatment.”