HOSPITAL CLEANING

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 78, Issue 7017, 9 February 1949, Page 6

HOSPITAL CLEANING

BOARD APPROVES CONTRACT FOR ADDITIONAL WORK iTO BE UNDERTAKEN BY CHRISTCHURCH FIRM An offer to carry out additional services at the Waikato Hospital was made by a Christchurch firm of commercial cleaners, in a letter received at Monday’s meeting of the board. The additional work would cost the board £3172 per annum, or £6l a week, making the total contract price up to £27,899 per annum. The price previously paid for the work was approximately £24,000. The chairman (Mr H. D. Caro) said that formerly work which would now be done by the contractors had fallen on the nurses. This was corroborated by the lady superintendent, Miss Menzies, who expressed herself satisfied with the proposed arrangement. She thought the work was costly, but the results justified the expenditure. Mrs H. Ross, in supporting the adoption of the new cleaning contract, recalled that when cleaning costs were first discussed by the Finance Committee it had been estimated that it would have cost the board about £23,000 to clean the hospital and even at present it was getting a far better job at little more cost. The proposed adjustment was queried by Mr W. J. Lusty, who asked for the assurance of the chairman that in adopting the additional contract the board would be getting value for the money. He was just as keen as other members to see the burden lifted from the nurses’s shoulders, but wanted to know if the increased expenditure would be reflected in the services rendered. The board agreed that the proposed arrangement was the best that could be made under the circumstances, and the motion approving the adjustment was carried.