Proposed Hospital Loan

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 6, Issue 52, 2 March 1943, Page 5

Proposed Hospital Loan

£45,000 For Additions

For the purpose of acquainting the County Council with the details and' purpose of the proposed new Hospital loan for £45,000, Mr L. Buddie and Dr. T. Dawson waited on the Council last Tuesday'and set out the whole scheme, together with details of the latest Governmental regulations covering buildingoperations and enforcing the Board's responsibility for providing, what accommodation is deemed necessary. The interview lasted over two hours and 1 culminated in an emphatic protest from the Council to the Prime Minister regarding the crushing weight of Hospital taxation in this district. In Avelcoming the Board delegates the chairman, Mr J. L. Burnett, said that the Council could appreciate the difficulties of the Board and desired therefore a plain state-' nient of facts and an exchange of views. Mr Buddie said he too appreciated the Council's views, and had wondered at his reception as he understood. the. most recent appointee to the Board from the Council had ""been sent there specifically to watch "expenditure. Conditions 20 Years Ago Dr Dawson said that the present 'hospital was built in 1923 and in those days was regarded as a White Elephant 5 which would never be 'fully utilised. Since then however with the intensification of settlement on the plains and the expansion of the Borough it had become tQ-day hopelessly inadequate. In .1938, the average occupied .bed per •day was. 3(j. Two years later (1940) it had risen to G(i. The hospital when built was designed to cater for 20 men and 20 women patients. Later additions permitted. 10 extra in the men's; ward thus giving accommodation to 50 :beds in the hospital excluding the annexe. Dn -the past, the daily average of 54 could be controlled but now Avitli the latest February figures revealing 72 daily it .became almost •an impossibility to carry on. Risk of Cross Infection Beds that should be Oft apart were now in order to conserve room. Such a practicc brought about the danger of cross infection and Whakatane did not want to have a refutation for that sort of thing. ■ In the women's ward the position was absolutely acute. Beds were laid -down the centre of the Avard built to contain 20 patients had now to accommodate from 25 to 30 per day. Director General's Visit The Director General of Health had. upon a recent inspection dared himself astounded at. the conditions obtaining in Whakatane, and added that, there Avas only one place wor se—T au mar un ui. Mentioning the isolation block Dr Dawson said it had been suggested thati it be. utilised, but this Avas impossible as there Avas not. sufficient nurses available to attend to patients drafted there. In any case this block had to be "held for emergency. What he personally Avas afraid ol 'was in the eA r ent of a serious accident Avhere five or six cases demanded admittance at the one time. -Already there were patients everywherer; in the X-ray room; in the anaesthetic room. The only alternative would be to place the next beds •down the corridor. The Kitchen Block The kitchen block he said had no.t been touched since 1923 and the realised from the outset that it would have to handle this question and provide much better facilities than those at present prevailing. The cooking arrangements were very cramped and far from sufficient. to meet the needs of the increased staff and number of patients. Duties of Hospital Boards Mr Buddie pointed out further that the fundamental duties of a Hospital Board were to provide amenities for the care of the sick at all times as the Director General thought fit. The

HOSPITAL BOARD'S CASE

DELEGATION TO COUNTY COUNCIL

failure by the Board to per form any of its duties in this connection (which he quoted from the Hospitals Act) brought about two possible -reactions (a) the Minister of Finance might withhold any part of the subsidies paid to the Board or (b) the Minister might direct the Director General to perform any act which the Board had failed i<> do, at the Board's expense. The agof.y was' piled oil, said Mr Buddie when a letter I rum the Director General also* required under the Hospital Administration Emergency Regulations, in addition to its present duties, to provide accommodation for patients of the military, or Allied forces. In the event of the Board failing to take measures of this nature the Government had the power to set up a commission to ensure that these steps were taken. From the above it would be seen how unlimited were, the powers of the Minister to enforce the Hospital Board to increase their institions where accommodation was deemed to be. insufficient. Need for Children's Ward There was undoubted congestion in the Whakatane Hospital. A children's ward, had been planned 18 months ago and plans were now nearing completion. It was considered the best thing to erect a new women's ward for 30 patients and convert the old ward into a children's section. The kitchen he said was hopelessly inadequate, and this also had to be substantially altered. The allocations for the new building projects were new Women's Wardi, £14,750 (equipment £1950); nev|,. Nurses Home, £17,500 (equipment £1498); Kitchen to lock £3000 (equipment £600). Ten per cent hiad been added to this figure to allow for fluctuations of building costs and! a further £1000 had 1 been allocated! for the regrading of the grounds.

Mr Buddie added that architects estimates wore ciuite often exceeded by tenderers and he maintained it was a sound policy to allow the 10 per cent (£4OOO additional). It would mean when the new Avorks Averc completed that the hospital could

then cater for SOi beds in the general hospital and the children avlio were at present drafted, into the adult wards according to their sex would have their oAA T n AA'ing.. Tender System Abolished Dealing Avith the subject of construction, Mr Buddie said that the Board had recently suffered another shock in a communication from the Department, Avhich intimated that the tender system for the construction of hospitals AA r as now abolished and that in future the schedule system would be obsen'ed. This would mean that actually the Board had no effective guarantee as to Avhat the final cost, would be. The Board took the strongest objection to this ne.Av measure. It felt that as the ratepayers were being asked to foot the bill in this connection that it was only right they should be given the opportunity to object or to question. Board's Alternatives "We recognised that Ave had three alternatives,'" said Mr Buddie. "The first was to do our duty as a Hospital Board and proceed Avith the scheme, the second was to resign, and the third to do nothing.'' The first had seemed to be the most logical course to folloAv. Iff the Board had resigned an election would be held and a new board instituted which Avould be faced Avith exactly the same problems. If the Board did nothing, it mviting the GoA*ernmcnt to take over the running of the hospital ami charging it to the Board. There seemed to be only one alternative to follow and that Avas to proceed, advertise the intention to raise the loan and give the ratepayers the right to object. Only a First Mortgage Cr McCready discussing the subject, said that the basis of finding administrative costs for hospital?, was sheer unadulterated robbery.'

The new loan was only the first mortgage—it was going to grow and grow until it became an impossible burden. He maintained that he had been put on the hospital to watch the expenditure side and he was: going to do it and see that the rate- • payers received value for tlieir money. Many people were going short of the comforts of life to-day and lie could not see the justice in grinding them down still further by excessive hospital rates. Talking of rehabilitation, he. was against bringing back our soldiers to such a staggering weight of indebtedness as this. The cost of the new Green Lane Hospital in Auckland was a case in point . —£2 .Is Id per square foot. Had ft small builder been given the right to tender it would have, meant a possible saving of £128,000. For the Government to say to those who had to foot the bill —you have no say in this was straight out, dictatorship. Badly Constructed He Avas not against improving the hospital and had he been able to see where the ratepayers were getting value for their money would have been al! for it. The Hospital Board had,.started oft' on the wrong foot, in the first place. The buildings- were badly laid out and he would like to knew how many unnecesary miles tiie nurses tramped from day to day in serving the patients in the wards. The chairman said that lie recognised the need for the new amenities but.' strongly objected to the abolition of the tender system. If there was any way in which the Council could assist the Board in this respect, it would gladly do it. Referendum Suggested Cr Cawte suggested that before such an important lean should be raised a referendum from the ratepayers should be taken witli regard to the. desirability of the loan., Cr McCready mentioned the fact that, the Opotiki Hospital Board had been required to effect improvements over manj T years, and in spite of threats from the Department had adopted a poliicy of more or less passive resistance and had done nothing. It was time everybody dug their toes in and resisted the present unfairness of legislation. It was up to those who had seen people in the past, sold up to meet exorbitant rating liabilities, to see that it d.idn't happen again. The present, loan was l'or 36 *o. years and at the end of that time it would, be necessary to -borrow 7 more to Avipe it off. Spontaneous Action Cr Smith said lie also favoured the idea of a referendum but would like io see sueh a move come from the Farmers' Union as a spontaneous action on the part, of County ratepayers. ,Cr McGougan said he was definitely against the Government with regard to financing the building but he could not see lioaa t the. main issue could be side stepped. It was all A-ery Avell to compare Opotiki, but in that centre there: Avas a County population of 5000 and a Borough population of 2000. The hospital there catered, for 40 beds. Whakatane had a County population of 10,800 and a Borough "population of 2300 and there were: only 60 beds. On a comparative basis, there should be 80 and, that was what the new scheme aimed at. To Watch Expenditure Cr McGougan asked the chairman to clear up one matter as to whether Cr McCready had been appointed from the Council to definitely watch the Hospital Board's expenditure. The chairman said he had no, recollection of. it. Cr McCready then drew the meetings attention to an incident at. the time of his appointment to the Board, when lie had asked why he had been selected, and the answer had been that it was 1 to make a point of .watching expenditure. Government's Policy Criticised Cr McCracken said it Avas. obvious that the problem was aggravated on the main by the Government's o'Avn policy of Social Security and instead of shouldering it, the Government was 'passing the buck' on to the local bodies. He submitted that the abolition of calling for public tenders which enabled the. erection of buildings at bedrock prices was nothing less than dictatorship. The Council could do little about it other than to register a very strong protest. He could see what the present trend, was going to lead to —still higher costs per bed than e\ r er. In the cities;, said Cr McCracken, it did not mater how much (Continued in next column)