BOTILE LAKE.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 11684, 28 April 1916, Page 5

BOTILE LAKE.

HOSPITAL OVERCROWDED. CHILDREN WM IS BAD. NEW BUILDING BADLY NEEDED. During the last few years scarlet fever has made astonishing progress in Christ-church and tho surrounding country until tho present time when tho isolation hospital at Bottle Lake is badly overcrowded. Originally it was intended to accommodate fortyeight patients, and since it was opened in 1910 it never had anything approaching that number till last year, when it became overcrowded, the position becoming worse since January last. A glance at tho number of patients will show how the epidemic has spread. At tho end of April, 1914, the number of patients was fourteen and this was a fair averago up to that tinio. Up till March, 1915, when tho number of patients was ten, the hospital accommodation was equal to requirements, but henceforth it began to bo. taxed. One month later, on April 24, 1915, the number of patients had jumped to forty-five. During tho bad months last year this was the average, but iu January last it had gone back to thirty-four. This year there are signs that scarlet fever has come to stay in Canterbury and the cases at the hospital havo" increased very rapidly. The following table will show tho position since tho beginning of the >ear: —

For a hospital, that has accommodation for half the present number, this is a very serious matter, and Dr Duncan, tho Hospital Board's medical officer for Bottle Lako, has reeommonded that a new building should be erected to accommodate* tb© patients, and the old hospital used as an emergency hospital. , , . . .Meanwhile the board is making temporary provision, to relieve the congestion by tho erection of marquees. A reporter visited the hospital this morning in company with Mr Wharton, secretary to the board, and found that one of tho marquees was already accommodating eight convalescent males, another was in the course of erection for tbo females, find another had been provided for tho nurses' sleeping quarters. Two other marquees will o& erected for the accommodation of the convalescents. The male patients, who have been in their marquee, since Saturday night, are- very pleased witn their new quarters, and there is no doubt the arrangement will effect considerable improvement. Tbo point is, however, that while it will relieve the main building mid tho convalescent adults, it will not help the chief source of the trouble, which is located m tno children's wards. Here the. overcrowding is very pronounced indeed, out of the ninety-eight patients, eighty are children, and the provision for their accommodation is undoubtedly wholly inadequate. . They are in tho very oldest part of the hospital, and their quarters, compared with the recent additions, are without conveniences antt out of date. Nurses have to go rrora one end of the building to the other to get hot fomentations, etc.; the bathrooms are crude, i-n fact the place S not such as to give tho children a fair chance. Furthermore, the lack ot modern conveniences adds greatly zo the work of the staff. Tho fact that strikes a visitor at one© is that tho adding-on policy of the board, while satisfactory up to a point, has got hevond, the limit and now tends to becomo a burden on the stall. The dining-room accommodation is i still what it was originally, the kitchen is the same, and those patients who 1 can have to eat at their bedsides. The children have no dining-room accommodation and pro-vision has boon made bv nlacing a table- on the verandah. i "The domestic staff complained that it 1 had no sitting-room with a hre lotwinter and as the complaint was a very reasonable one thoy were accommodated , in the observation room, thus doing I awav with a very necessary attribute j to the hospital. An observation ward is to bo erected, but suspected cases , have at present to take, their chance, j During the recent hue weather,ex- I Ce.llent results have accrued, from the children's beds being placed on the verandah night and .day. This has worked excellently with advantage to all but with the approacn of winter thev have been compelled once move to , overcrowd indoors. In the *onum s ; ward there is slight overerowdmg which ■ will be relieved by the erection of the I Convalescent marquee. The mens quarters are in good order and with the use of the marquee they are now better off'than any other part of theinstitution. , , , „ Summed up. the position briefly is that temporary, arrangements, wil> eventually fail. Tho worst period of the vear is coining, and while the marquees will relievo the men's and women's wards, tho children will be worse off. Chi'dron require personal attention during all stages and they must be kept at hand, so as to be under , the observation of the staff. They cannot be put. out in the temporary con- ! vales Cent shelters, and must therefore remain in their ward, their large numbers thus causing continual overcrowding. No visitor to the hospital can come to any other conclusioi but that Dr Duncan's suggestion for an absolutely new hospital is tho only solution of the trouble. Temporary arrangements will relieve, but they will not euro, and under present conditions neither the staff nor tho patients can say that their quarters aro what they should be, otherwiso the hospital is ideal.' Its situation is all that could be desired, the surroundings are healthy, and after tho first, fortnight the patients undoubtedly thrive. The matron (Nurse Burnett) reports that after an experience extending over many hospitals in Australia and New Zealand, Bottle J/ake is the best fed hospital she has come across, and apart.from accommodation the Hospital Board looks after it splendidly. There is a staff of nine, including the matron. Three nurses recently sent out are themselves down with fever.

Month. Patients January . 34 February . . 45 March 17 . . oil March 24 . . 62 April 7 . . 78 Ai>ril 28 . . 08