SUCCESSFUL YEAR

Taranaki Daily News, 16 April 1935, Page 3

SUCCESSFUL YEAR

HAWERA HOSPITAL BOARD J/ CHAIRMAN REVIEWS WORKING. ~ INCOME AND EXPENDITURE SHOWN , A successful year in all respects was commented on by Mr. J. S. McKay, chairman, at the annual meeting of theHawera Hospital Board yesterday. Mr. ’ McKay traversed the income and expenditure of the year and mentioned that an increase in receipts had .been received. . ■>’'/</ Dealing with income, the chairman said patients’ fees from all sources collected during the year were £4506 18s 4d, representing £73 18s per occupied bed as against £76 12s-per occupied bed for the previous year. The fees were among the highest received by hospital boards. - • The comparative return of fees collected for the past three years was ■ as follows: 1934-35, £4507; 1933-34, £4416; . j 1932- £5964. Estimated collections for the year were £4500 and the actual collection realised just £6 18s 4d above that amount. Local bodies’ levies and subsidies for the past three years were: 1934-35: Levy £9222, subsidy £827,4, total £17,496. 193334: Levy £8998, subsidy £7384, total £16,182. 1932-33: Levy £6866, subsidy £5848, total £12,714. There still remained a balance of £6o' 4s 8d in the post office for the purpose of maintaining the wireless installation. Other items of income, including charitable aid recoveries and voluntary donations, also showed an increase. This year, the charitable aid recoveries were £584 14s Id, compared with £398 for 1933- and £486 for £1932-33. Volun- - tary donations this year totalled £lO9 13s, compared with £45 for the previous year< . and £B3 for the year before. Subsidies' on voluntary donations were now a thing of -the past. . *" . . . - On the expenditure ■side, the followingshowed the maintenance expenditure for the past three years:— 1934-351933-34 1932-33 Surgery and dispens- £ £ £ ary 1576 1371 1546 Provisions .. 1189 1116 1085 Domestic and Establishment 2949 2788 3433 Salaries and wages .. 5971 5970 6048 Totals £11,685 £11,120 £12,111 Included in this year’s amount was an item of £313 for renewal of instruments, and the increase of £565 was accounted • for by the increase of 41 patients during the year. , - ■ : , The average of occupied beds atid maintenance costs for 1934-35, 1933-34 and 1932-33 respectively, were: Average occupied beds, 61.5, 58.1, 60.0; cost per occupied bed, £lB6 Bs, £l9l 14s, £2Ol |,r 14s; number of patients treated, 1128, 1082, 1087; collective days’ stay, 23,349, 21,253, 23,696; cost per patient treated, £lO ss, £lO 6s, £ll Is, . Other main items of expenditure for

1934-35, 1933-34 and 1932-33 in that order were: Charitable aid (outdoor), £1225, £1126, £932; special hospitals and sanatoria, £lOB9, £895, £831; administration, £lOB2, £1126, £1249; grounds, £467, £478, £510; bank interest, £2112, £2418, £3058. Of this expenditure charitable aid and , other hospital boards and sanatoria-.. showed an increase on previous years, h They were steadily increasing and would, no doubt continue, to do so so long as. the hard times lasted.

Extra expenditure next year would be: District nurse, £230; five per cent, wages restoration, £450; charitable aid and other boards and sanatoria, £3OO. The new loan arrangement would be: Capital £lOOO less, and interest £490 less, - ■ reducing the levy on local bodies for the coming year to £9OO below that last year. The sum of £2OO weald be paid off the farm mortgage this year, and that debt would be liquidated in six years time. In conclusion, said Mr. McKay, he would like to tender thanks and appreciation to the members of the board, to the managing, secretary, medical superintendent, resident physician, matron and nursing staff and master and matron of .' the Old People’s Home for their services, and to all other members of the board’s staff for the good work done by them during the year. He also thanked the Press for the manner in which it had reported the meetings of the board.