HOSPITAL COSTS AND NURSES' HOURS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18182, 15 June 1927, Page 5

HOSPITAL COSTS AND NURSES' HOURS.

To the Editor. Sir,—No doubt the members of our late Hospital Board had cause to feel flattered at the comparison figures published last week on the cost of maintenance of the hospitals in the four chief centres of the Dominion. Just fancy, Christchurch can run hospitals about 25 per cent cheaper than some of our other cities. At first sight the reason seems obvious. “It’s the business acumen of our worthy board.” But perhaps it's wise not to jump to 'when recent happenings at a number of our local institutions leave us with a rather general feeling of apprehension. Take, for instance, the fatalities at the Jubilee and Tuarangi Homes, and the Bottle Lake incident. They all indicated shortage of staff or mismanagement, but your article in Saturday’s issue surely supplies the key to the reason our hospitals are run so cheaply and unsatisfactorily. The following extract surely proves my contentions during the past year that everything is topsy-turvy with our Hospital administration :—“Though it is required by regulation that each nurse should receive one day off each week,” Miss Muir, the Lady Superintendent declares, “it is impossible to carry this regulation out with the present limited staff,” and, said Miss Muir, “if any of the nurses are not satisfied here they can always get out of it.” In these days of unemployment the Hospital Board is not setting a very commendable exampli by its cheap policy of no holiday under staffing systems, and it strengthens the cold grub for patients controversy; but what of the Hospital Board’s secretary’s statement that nurses are treated better now than ever in the past. Surely things could never have been worse in God's Own Country, where the private employer would quickly be muzzled by the law if it forgot the necessary holidays for its employees. From past experience we may now expect an assurance from the board's chairman that everything at the Hospital is running smoothly, and the present staff strength is in conformity with the rules laid down by the board and is based on ordinary requirements. The loss of Dr M’Gibbon on the board’s staff no doubt assisted also in keeping our Hospital costs down to the present low level, so now the new board has its opportunity of rectifying past mistakes at a little extra cost to the ratepayers, who, I am sure, would not quibble on account of the advantages thus obtained by a suffering community.—l am, etc., F. WHILEY.