TE WAIKATO SANATORIUM.

Waipa Post, Volume XX, Issue 1180, 10 December 1921, Page 5

TE WAIKATO SANATORIUM.

REJECTED BY HOSPITAL BOARD.

FORMER DECISION RESCINDED. At a former meeting the Waikato Hospital Board 'decided to transfer the Old Men's Home to Te Waikato Sanatorium at Maungakawa, near Cambridge. This decision, however, was reversed at last Thursday's meeting of the Board. The voting at the

originial meeting was seven to s.'x; the reversal was carried on a vote of Steven to five. The Director-General of Health (Dr. Valintine) pointed out that the offer to the Board for the use of Te WaJkato was at a peppercorn rental of Is per annum, and on the understanding that should the Board find the expenditure of running the institution more than anticipated, it should vacate the institution at a week's 1 notice. In traversing the position, Mr Johnstone, who moved notice of,motion to

rescind the former decision, said that

if the Old Men's Home was? removed as intended it would cost £3OOO. That would mean a further levy on the contributing bodies, as the funds of the Board would not warrant it in the position they were in at present. In fact the Board had no money available. They knew that they could acquire a s'uitable site for providing a new home adjacent to the hospital under the Public Works Act, and they knew that it would be better to build if they had the funds. A building in concrete could be provided at a comparatively cheap rate, as there was plenty of suitable f.hingle on the site. Mr Dickinson raised a point of order as to whether the motion was in order. After some discussion the chairman ruled that it was, and said he was quite satisfied that it was the right ruling.

Mr Hinton, in seconding Mr Johnstone's motion, said that his opinion was even more strengthened than last time, when he had voted against the old men being shifted to Te Waikato. Even admitting that there might be convienience and necessity in removal, there was no economy. Mr Dent said he had refrained from voting at last meeting on the proposal, as he held the data was insufficient for him to act. In the interval he had visited the site and had made careful inquiries there and in other directions. The Minister of Health adduced facts and figures to show its unsuitability as 1 a sanatorium. If unsuitable for a sanatorium through its excessive cost, he was satisfied that was equally so for the purposes of a home. He believed it would be a real hardship and also a cruelty to send the old men co the institution. Mr R. Seavill said he was more confirmed than ever against shifting the old men there. He respected old age, and they must not let the sentimental side of the question go altogether. These men were dependent on their nearness to civilisation, and they might as well be at Rotoroa as l "away on the hill-top." Mr Bailey said that as chairman of the Board, it was his duty to stick to the hospital and the doctor who controlled it. The latter had drawn the Board's attention many times) to the overcrowding. At the present time the patients were all over the place, which was neither fair to them, to the doctors nor the staff. The building at Te Waikato was quite suitable, and while it might be out of the way, it was a solution of the difficult problem of overcrowding which confronted the Board. He had a duty to perform in assisting the doctor and alleviating that overcrowding. Dr. Valentine did not want the Board to keep the old men there for ever, but only made the offer to remove the hospital congestion, which he (Dr. Valentine) said was in a dangerous sitate. If the Board turned the proposal down he could say he had done his duty.

Mr Tristram said the overcrowding at the present hospital had to be alleviated. Finance and isolation were, the points under which objection was lodged by those against Te Waikato, but the mover had himself mentioned that the site had had suggested taking under the Act was isolated to a certain extent. One mistake he saw was that some of the Board should have consulted the old men, but he was told they were divided on the matter. There was sufficient accommodation at Te Waikato for all the old men and women without spending a penny.

Mr Potts, in opposing the motion, pointed to the Board's inability to raise money for a new building and site, and he thought that under the conditions obtaining the action decided on was best. They could not compare the running of a sanatorium and an old men's home at all, as there was no parallel in the two cases. Within two years they would be able to put new buildings up at much less cost than at present, while it had also to be recognistd that money was unavailable now.

Mr Ryburn regarded Te Waikato as ideal in the summer only. Even from the isolation point of view alone it was unsuitable. It would be a case of "out of sight out of mind." The Board would find it too costly, as the Department had found it, according to its official report. He advocated the erection of a home as soon as possible, and near enough to the present hospital so that all waste products could be utilised.

Mr Dickinson supported the views expressed by the chairman in regard to the provision of accommodation at the hospital, the very reason for which they had to take this tep. He was satisfied that the object of shifting the consumptives from Te Waikato was to concentrate and to avoid the extravagance that had been going on. As an old men's home site, it was the speaker's contention that Te Waikato would be suitable under all points and relieve for the Board the great measure of congestion that was evident at the hospital. Mr Teasdale was of the view of the chairman and Mr Dickinson in the matter. So far as his county was concerned it could not contribute any more to the Board, and it even was a question if it could collect what was due. After reviewing the situation, the speaker contended that the offer was one the Board should not miss under any consideration. Mr Blackman said that at the pre-

vious meeting he had supported the resolution to shift. Afterwards he had made enquiries, and was not altogether clear about it yet. So far as overcrowding was concerned, if the Board expended its £78,000 there would still be people who wanted to come and could not get into the hospital, as they had to-day. The speaker prophesisted a big drop in building costs between this and next year, and held that it would be wise for the Board to remain another twelve month? and see how affairs shaped. Ivi»* Conradi said that the Board had received advances on account of Government subsidy, £BOOO in all. Otherwise the finances of the Board would have been in a very bad posit.bn, particularly owing to the restriction put on overdraft by the Department. Mr Johnstone asked if there was sufficient money available to run the extra cost at Te Waikato to the end of the financial year .

Mr Conradi replied that the Board was living from hand to mouth as it was, and the estimates did not provide for any extra moneys l . When the vote was taken Messrs Johnstone, Ryburn, Blackman, Dent, Seavill, Hinton and Barton voted for the motion, and Messrs Bailey, Teasdale, Tristram, Potts, and Dickinson against it. The House and Finance Committee of the Board w,ll next week inspect a proposed site on the river bank below the present hospital, and report to the Board.