HOSPITAL RATING

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 1, Issue 3, 26 April 1939, Page 2

HOSPITAL RATING

o— POSITION IN COUNTRY MUCH SCOPE FOR IMPROVEMENT Farmers on the Rang taiki Plains will be interested in an address delivered to the conference of the Auck land Provincial Executive of the N.Z Farmers Union last wcek_ ori. the subject of the III Rating System by Mr Douglas Robb. ''More co-ordination of effort and the elimination of many of the boundaries wh'ch were at present dividing the hospital system of New Zealand up into small units were immediate needs in order to raise the standard of medical and hospital sei. vice in the Dominion," said Mr Dong las Robb, in addressing the conference of the Auckland Provincial Executive of the Farmers' Union last, week, ''There shonM be a grouping of areas where the ruril population is small and scattered,' he said, '\Aitn the. aim of ra\s : ng the standard of hospital service more nearly in co;i formity wilh that esist'n* in tht? urban areas. The rural areas have suffered greatly in the past through the smallness of the hospitals and hospital districts which serve them, and there is much more scope for improvement there tlvn in the main centres.'' Referring to the ro~ition in North Auckland he stated that six hospital hoards were doing the work "which could be done much mnrc efficient, lv by one. The North should be dealt with as a . single hospital unit and served by hospital transport, medical skill and bu'ldings and eauipmem planned on a co-ordinated basis "'hich did not at the present time. For urgent cases which coulil Tin?- be transported a considerable distance to hosp : t-d the~e shouM be mobile medical units controlled bv doctors capable of undertaking such

work. "It was a mistake,'* said Mr Robb, "to imagine that specialised service could be provided in numerous places in a scattered community such as that which manjf ofi the smaller hospital boards had to serve. In the interests of the patient treatment by a specialist should be given in an institution eqiioped with the ; necessary facilities, and the !inu_ t,at : ons of the Dominion from a popu : lation point of view had to be re- ; cognised. ''The hospitals should be used more L nnd the homes less than they are used to.day, in providing medical 1 service '' he stated, and explained that among the reasons why general practitioners treated numerous cases in the homes one Avas that greater control and prestige were retained , by the practitioner under this; im,ethod. He stated that there was much <■ need for nurses to relieve doctors of a considerable amount of Avork con. [ nected Avith cases treated in the j homes. ''Some people are appalled at the f idea of changing the organisation of . the hospital system suddenly" he -j continued, ''but the dimensions of r New Zealand are so small that there j is no rrnson Avhv the transition should be spread OA-er an extended period. It appears howeA'er, that any changes avUI be brought Y about Gradually, and not suddenly.'' Mr Robb also emphas'sed the need - for greater attent : on to the preven--1 tivc s'de of medicine and to the cultivation of a ros'tiA-e outlook on , health, as against present ten--1 dencA* to think much of sickness. , The hospital sv-tem could be cfTec. tiAeh' us°d in connection AA'ith pre- ; medicine. [ "The tnvt and association between - doctor and patient had been some. Avhat laVmrpd and ny rdorie" h" said If the Avhole hospital arrt nursing sA'steni AA T er« ortTn's""! giA'c th° best | possible c kill and an indiAidi itnl should not In v-dv. ; ther one doctor or another served r him. i "In the reorg ni ation of the prc-

sent system" he declared, • ''there should he more reliance on techni_ cal guidance. The people and Pailiairient could well lay down th° gen_ era] policy, but exnerts should be called upon to devise m"fns o* giving effect to that po'i y.''