HOSPITAL E.P.S.

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 05, Issue 83, 27 July 1942, Page 2

HOSPITAL E.P.S.

DOMINION BASIS

TEX GROUPS TO OPERATE

A Hosiptals Emergency Precautions Serv'ce has been formally constituted, with the Director-General of Health as Dominion controller. Assisting him arc hospital officers, group officers, the Director of Nirsing Services, and regional nursing officers. The Dominion Controllc;has a deputy (who is the Depu'y Director-General of Health) and s : x assistant control officers from the Department of Health. For the purposes of mutual assistance, the 18 hospital boards have been brought into ten groups, each consisting of from two to eight contiguous hospital districts. For each of these there is a group officer of the largest board in the group. These groups themselves are further regrouped into four areas, two in the North Island and two in the South Island. For each such area there is a hospital off'ccr. The hospital officers and group officers are part of the central organisation. Their duties are to serve as liaison officers between the Dominion Controller and local control* lers, and to co-ordinate hospital board activities. In the preparatory stages they have to satisfy themselves that all hospital boards have made adequate provision in regard to building, staff equipment, and supplies to deal with any possible emergency, bring to the notice of the Dominion Controller any instances where there appears to be insufficient preparation, and generally advise hosptal boards in their emergency schemes. In certain contingencies, particularly the isolation of any part of New Zealand, it is possible that wider powers -would be delegated by the Dominion Controller to hospital and group officers.

Nursing Reserve

Within the hospital E.P.S. a special section has been created to facilitate the establishment of a reserve of nursing staff. This section is _under the control of. the Director of Nursing Services.

Regional nursing officers are located in Auckland, Hamilton, Gisborne, New Plymouth, Wellington, Christcluuch and Dunedin. They are all nurse inspectors of the Department of Health and subject to the control and direction of the Director of Nursing Services. Their principal function is to assist in obtaining nursing staff during an emergency. They are in possession of duplicates of the rolls of all nursing personnel, including auxiliary nursing staff enrolled for duty in the event of emergency.

The local administrative area of the hospitals E.P.S. is the hospital board district. For each such area the hospital board has been requested to set up a hospital board emergency committee which could be rapidly called together for consultation. The committee is responsible to* the Dominion Controller for, the provision in an emergency of all necessary emergency hospital facilities in its area.