Christchurch Hospital

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume VIII, Issue 2, 1 April 1915, Page 89

Christchurch Hospital

A fete was held at the Christchurch Hospital for the Chronic Ward £700 was raised, and it is intended, with the Government subsidy, to go on with the erection as soon as the plans have been approved by the Inspector-General of Hospitals.

New Administration Buildings. The new administration block of buildings at the Christchurch Hospital is now m occupation by the staff, and provides for the work of the internal management of the institution and the out-patients' department being carried out on the lines of all that is most up-to-date and approved by latest medical science. The new block presents an imposing facade to Riccarton Road, pierced with an archway leading into a courtyard surrounded by various offices and receiving departments leading to the wards. A comfortable office on the left has been set apart as an enquiry bureau and main telephone room. From here it is possible to communicate with every part of the vast concern by house telephones. The out-patients' waiting hall is close by, and there is room for a very large number of patients. Adjoining this are the dispensary, consulting-rooms, dressing-rooms for male and female patients, a separate consulting -room for the eye ear, nose, and throat specialists, and an operating theatre, where minor operations can be performed, and attached to this is a recovery room with a large balcony. The upper f 1 o or is given over 1 argely to the pathological and dental departments. The bacteriologist and his assistants have a workroom, vaccine, and sterilising rooms and an office, and now work under conditions adequate to the importance of their branch of medical science. As the work of the dental department has Extract from a letter dated January 17th, from a traveller to England : — ■ " At Mt. Lavinia, we saw a Red Cross Nursing Corps from Japan, who were just leaving for France, and had only arrived m Colombo that day. There were twenty nurses, little women with jet black hair, all dressed m white with black buttons, they were all exactly alike and looked as

greatly increased, a large amount of space on the upper floor has been utilised for extracting and general treatment rooms, and for the necessary mechanical work. Recovery rooms adjoin each of the operating theatres, and there is every facility for the patients and dentists. The remaining part of the floor is where the records' room, sewing, and lecture rooms, and china and linen stores are situated. Here also members of the medical staff and some of the household staff, such as storemen and others, have their quarters. Staff rooms, visitors' waiting rooms, the X-ray department, the dispensary and medical superintendent's and lady superintendent's rooms are on the ground floor. The dispensary is considered to be one of the most up-to-date hospital dispensaries m the world. A year's stock of drugs is carried m the extensive storage space . Everything necessary for quick and accurate dispensing is installed, and the staff of this department works under very advantageous conditions. Three rooms make up the X-ray department. These are the examining-room, darkroom, and main theatre. For the purposes of hospital cookery and domestic management, the new kitchen is regarded as being as near perfect as can be attained. Steam heating for cooking and general work minimises the labours of the staff and enables anything to be prepared with the utmost expedition. In planning the new buildings the Board kept steadily m view the needs of Christchurch for very many years to come. Much money has been spent, but the requirements of the institution were urgent, especially m the dental and pathological de - partments , which were formerly 1 ocated m old wooden buildings of almost 50 years standing. if they had all been cut from the same pattern. There were one or two doctors with them with Red Cross badges on their arms/ This is the first mention we have seen of nurses from Japan going to the front m France ; but as the Japanese Red Cross is very up-to-date m its nursing methods, there is no doubt they will be of great service.