HOSPITAL FINANCE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 75, Issue 12, 15 January 1932, Page 8

HOSPITAL FINANCE

ITS SERIOUS PLIGHT MINISTERS WAITED UPON TWO IMPORTANT ISSUES The serious plight hospital boards are in at the present time, owing the abnormal drain on their resources caused, by unemployment, was placed before the Prime Minister (the Right Hon. G. \V. Forbes), the Minister u*. Charge of Unemployment (the Right Hon. J. G. Coates), and the Minister of Health (the Hon. J. A. Young) by a deputation representing the Hospital Boards’ Association of New Zealand ii» Wellington yesterday. It was stated that the deficit for the year for the three major boards —Auckland, Wellington and North Canterbury—was expected to total £lOB,OOO, and the opinion was expressed that unless financial assistance was given by the Government the boards’ present operations could not continue. In a statement to the deputation the Minister of Health said that the Treasury had been recommended to make interim payments totalling £37,000 from £75,00U allocated by the Government. It was proposed to allocate the balance, £38,000, before the end of the financial year. Even with that, the sum would fall approximately £50,000 short of actual requirements, and any further sum required would have to be a matter for consideration by the Government. The deputation consisted of Messrs. W. Wallace (president of the Hospital Boards’ Association and chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board), H. J. Utley (chairman of the North Canterbury Hospital Board), W. E. S. Knight, (chairman of the Otago Hospital Board), F. Castle (chairman of the Wellington Hospital Board), Hou. W. H. Mclntyre (chairman of the Buller Hospital Board), and C. M. Luke, a member of the Wellington Hospital Board. After the deputation had placed their representations before the Prime Minister, and the latter had replied, a conference was held in committee, when, it is understood, the general discussion took place largely on the (puMfon *»f policy'. Minister’s Statement The Minister of Health (Hon. J. A. Young) subsequently made a statement to the deputation to the effect that ceally there were two issues involved in the representations that had been made, the immediate one being the financial position in which hospital boards found themselves in being unable to meet the liabilities imposed upon them arising out of the extraordinary distress due to economic unemployment. The other question was that of the policy affecting the operations to what was being done as far as hospital boards were concerned. On the latter subject he had no comment to make other than to say that it might involve legislation, which was u matter for the Prime Minister and his colleagues. He had followed the figures submitted by the deputation regarding estimated deficits for the year, and they tallied approximately with those the Health Department had prepared as at December 31. The metropolitan boards were those mainly affected and the claims particularly of Auckland, Wellington, and North Canterbury were the most urgent. The total estimated deficit for the year on the operations of the Auckland Board would be £61,000, of which £35,000 would be due to unemployment relief. In Wellington, the total estimated deficit was approximately £33,000, of which £25.00b would be due tc unemployment relief. In North Can terbury, the total deficit was £lB*,ooo, of which £ll,OOO would be due tc un employment relief. The Total Deficit That left a balance of £15,000 esti mated total deficit for all the other boards, said Mr. Young, of which £lO,OOO would be due to unemployment relicT, making a total of £127,000 estimated deficit for the year ending March 31, 1932, of which £Bl,OOO would be due to unemployment relief. In addition to the £Bl,OOO deficit due to unemployment relief, general maintenance of hospitals would account for £31,000, and estimated deficit due to a drop in the receipt of patients’ fees, £15.000, accounting for the total of £127,000. The Minister said that he had found quite a few members of hospital boards who were of the belief that the function of a hospital board ended in providing hospital accommodation and treatment. Although the statute han little to say with respect to charitable relief, it made it clear that “every hospital board shall have the administration of charitable aid within the district of the board in accordance with the provisions of this Act,” and, in addition to that, the Act provided that a hospital board “might apply any moneys in its hands in such proportion and in such manner as it thinks fit —for the purpose of —the provision of charitable aid by way of grants of money, food, and other requirements for indigent, sick, or infirm persons who are not inmates of any institjifion.” Some had been inclined to read it as meaning “indigent sick,” he naid, but that was not the case. Position has Grown However, the position has so developed that demands to-day on hospital boards for relief had grown fai beyond the anticipations of those who had originally designed the Act. A number of boards had declared tha‘ they had got beyond the limit of their resources to meet the situation, an*' this necessitated the government pro viding extra assistance. The positie--of Dunedin was not as bad as it ap peared, for at the end of December la»v the board was within its proposition of the estimate for the year, and according to remarks of the chairman, they would be overdrawn to the extent of about £2OOO for outdoor relief by th<* end of the year. The Minister pointed out that the Otago board had accumu lated funds on which they could draw temporarily, and the matter of one o» two thousand pounds should possess difficulties to the board. He stated that unfortunately in the early part of the present financial year, and with the very best of intentions, the Government caused the hospita» boards to write down their estimates, with the result that a saving on the Government subsidy had been effected to the extent of £i40,000, and in relie* to local authorities of £130,000. Tha>

had been illustrated by the deputation in a statement made to the effect that Auckland city ratepayers had been saved a sum of £lO,OOO. The Miniatesaid that in the Waikato hospital district the local bodies were saved not less than £BOOO. The effect of that was that demands had been made on the Government for further assistance to hospital boards, and, as a consequence, the sum of £75,000 had been allocated by ths Government for tb“ purpose. Already the Treasury had been recommended to make the following in terim payments: —Auckland Hospita. Board, £20,000; Wellington, £10.000; North Canterbury, £4000; Waikato. £2000; Bullet, £lOOO. Tho balance of £38.000 it was proposed to allocate be fore the end of the financial year. But even that, he would like to draw the attention of the Minister of Fin ance to, would fall approximately £50,000 short of actual requirements. He pointed out to the deputation that as Minister of Health he had no con trol over finance, and he had to make good a case to the Treasury. So far as the additional £50,000 was con cerned, that was a matter for consideration by the Government. He said that a question to be considered was the extent to which hospital boards would be required to spend money in social relief in order that boards may be in a position to strike something like a reliable estimate of expenditure and liability early in the year. Appreciation of the lucid manner in which Mr. Young had placed the facts before the deputation was expressed by Mr. Wallace.