EXPENDITURE JUSTIFIED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 304, 12 May 1941, Page 5

EXPENDITURE JUSTIFIED

MUCH WORK ACCOMPLISHED PROGRESS OF LOCAL HOSPITAL Stating that some local body ■ members had expressed the opinion that the Hospital Board had expend-* ed more money than it should have done during, the past year, with the > result that levies for the ensuing financial .year had been increased. T&he chairman, Mr J. W. Sumner, reviewed the position at the meeting • of the Board held last week. Mr Sunjner stated that it had been - considered by members that the - Board's first duty was to ensure that the hospital could provide, for f the treatment of all : patients as required by the district. The Board, - at the same time, had always watched finance carefully and undertaken no obligations that were not absolutely necessary—in fact foregoing * Work which was indeed pressing. Urgent Needs. Continuing thei chairman stated : that in February last thc_ ment had asked) the Board what it - considered it was urgently in need. The reply had been given that four •■Urgent works were in view, namely the extension of the women's ward, which Mas continually overcrowded ; extensions to the Nurses' Home the accommodation, provided by which wasi very inadequate In that all nurses could not. be housed : and, while some slept on the verandahs, others liad to be accommodated in private! homes. Then again there was the essential need of more dining accommodation for tliei staff. At present the •dining room was no more, capacious than that of an ordinary house and, the fact that the nurses had, to . "take meals: by relays," was very) ■unsatisfactory.. The 1 fourth great need and the one first given attention .Was that of the new X-ray plant. General Rise in Costs. The last item had been purchased and accounted for the: increased expenditure for the year and this had -been really a necessity if the service was to be l given.. This capital expenditure was, with the generally "increased costs caused by the forty? ihour week, the: rise in wages: and 'as a result of the many more, patients admitted the', increased layout in. surgical, dispensary and bedding requirements, responsible for the JBoard needing more funds.

Emergency Precautions. In addition to the ordinary requirements' for the running of the hospital the Board had, in accord with a request by the Government, laid in extra stocks of surgical and -■ dispensary needs for use: in the •event of an emergency.. "Without "making any further purchases we have sufficient to maintain, the hosr pital for eighteen months to two : years, but of course wisih to hold this stock for emergencies'," said the ■ chairman. Capital Works. During the year, the chairman -continued, two acres of land had been acquired for future building -operations, a new laundry had. been built, additions had been made to both the men's and, the nurses home, while nine extra rooms, some •double, had been added to the Annexe. A cow shed was built, and the grounds and gardens extended. Increase in Patients. The, total of patients passing through the hospital was for the three years past 3771 which represented a considerable increase while the length of stay in the hospital by each patient has been longer than the figures of three years ago,. The figures are as follows:— 1939 1940 1941 •General 817 970 1130 Annexe 237 279 338 1051 1249 1408 1938 1939 1940 1941 Average stay (Days) 11 15.3 13 13 'Beds in use) (Daily) 3G 41 50 58 The highest number of inmates at ono time was 94, 22 being in the Annexe and 72 in the general do- . partment.