SPENDING THOUSANDS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16542, 28 September 1921, Page 8

SPENDING THOUSANDS.

HOSPITAL BOARD MEMBERS DISCUSS ESTIMATES. RESULTS TOO SMALL. A bill for £64,100 caused members of the Hospital Board to whistle to-day. It showed the works that could be considered essential and gave tho cost of I each. After jotting down a. few figures on his blotting pad, a city representative informed the meeting that, by spending £ 45.000 tho board could actually provide accommodation for 100 nurses, by spending £16,000 it. would provide an open-air Home for sixteen children. A report from the Finance Committee read as follows: “ The committee has given very full consideration to the question of proceeding with the erection of essential buildings and recommends the board to take steps to obtain the consent of the 31in-ist-er to the following works being put in hand at an early date:—— Christchurch Hospital ; Nurses’ Home extension, £45,000. Infectious Diseases’ Hospital:— New pavilion to contain sixty-four beds, £BOOO. Extension to nurses’ home, etc. £2OOO. Open Air Home for Children : Irrespective of the amount in hand, £9OOO. Amount unprovided for, required for tho establishment of the X-Ray at the Sanatorium, £IOO. Total £64,100. 3lr A. T. Smith said that £45,000 for 100 nurses meant that the board was spending £450 t-o accommodate each nurse. Another objection was that the site chosen was not suitable. Jt was too neur the tram lines and too near the main chimney stack. In a few years the board would have to build somewhere else, because the whole institution was growing. Tlio architect had informed him that the children’s open air Horne would only provide sixteen beds. Yet £9OOO was to be spent as well as the £7OOO in hand. An institution at Aliddleton had put up a place with 100 beds at a cost of £7OOO. Could not the Hospital Board do the same? They did not want an elaborate home. While they wore haggling, children were dying every day. 3fr Smith moved that an open-air Home should be erected at a cost of £6OOO or £7OOO and that the work should be proceeded with as early as possible. Dr Fenwick seconded this motion. He said that shelters could be erected for .about £2B 10s each. The children should not be kept waiting. The Rev J. K. Archer said it seemed extraordinary that the board was to get a Home with 16 beds for £16,000. 3fr Smith : The administrative block will take tlio money. It costs £3 for every £1 spent on a bed. 3lr Smith’s motion was cairied. The clause dealing with the Nurses’ Home was adopted. 3fr H. B. Sorensen said that a Nurses* Home was absolutely necessary if the hospital was to carry on. Mr S. Andrew: Where will you get the money Mr Sorensen: 3Ye are leasing two houses' now for the accommodation of nurses. Those leases run out in six months. A motion by Mi* S- Andrew that the Chalmers Ward should be used to accommodate extra nurses so as to allow the nursing staff one day off per fortniglit was lost on the chairman’s eating vote.

It was decided to recommend the Hospital Committee to make arrangements so that nurses could get one day off' every fourteen days.