HOSPITAL AFFAIRS

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 70, Issue 81, 13 June 1944, Page 5

HOSPITAL AFFAIRS

NEW BOARD MEETS ELECTION OF COMMITTEES Special mention of the work « of Mrs Haultain and of Mr F. J. ■ .Savage was made by Mr F. Burt at the first meeting of \the newly elected Whakatane Hospital Board 1 last week when moving a vote of thanks to those members who- had not been successful at the poll. Mr Mullins in seconding saidl that a lady member on a Hospital Board was most essential and 1 no doubt Mrs Haultain had done splendiid work. Mr Buddie also emphasised the work of Messrs Savage and Barr and .Mrs Haultain and expressed the hope that at some future date they miglht be prevailed upon to offer their services once again. < The election of Mr A. F. McGou- ; gan. (who was absent) to the position of chairman and the provisional appointment of. Mr H. C. McCready to the position for the 'conduct of the meeting made it necessary to fix the chairman's honorarium, which., was voted at £100 (plus travelling . expenses) the same rate as previously. _ Tne administrative committees were appointed, as under: Finance, . the Cha.rman, Messrs Buddie, Caulfield and Suckling; Works, the Chairman, Messrs Burt, McCready, Mullins • and Mitchell. Visiting Committee There had been far too little visiting by board members in the past declared Mr McCready when dis- • -cussing the appointment of. a visit-i ing committee. Mr Mullins said it was necessary to see the patients individually in order to ascertain whether or not they were satisfied with the treatment they were receiving. He would like to be able to walk into the institution whenever he was in town. Mr McCready alleged that patients . had complained in the past tnat they did not see a board member fjrom one month to another. On Mr Mullins motion it was decided that visiting committees of . two be appointed each month to ..make their own arrangements with regard to their visits. The first committee will be Messrs Mullins and Caulfield.

The board accepted an offer of the Waikato Hospital Board to allow for periodic visits by Dr Short, tubercular specialist, every six weeks at -a fee of 3 guineas per day. Wages of Nurses Maintaining that the standing - rate of. salaries to nurses was still far too low. the Whangarei Hospital Board wrote seeking support to its representations. The secretary tabled a schedule of rates which had just been fixed by the Stabilisation Committee, adding that there appeared to be little the board could do about it. "This is ri'ot a hardy annual," said the chairman, "its a hardy monthly." The letter was referred by the hoard to the Works Committee for - consideration. Payment of Loan Writing with regard to the payment of loan monies in connection with the recently authorised £45 000 loan, the Government Life Insur- . an-ee offered to make the payments available in the following allotments: £10,000 in July, £20 000 in September and £15,000 by the end of the .year. The secretary's action in approving the above was confirmed. Hospital Figures . The following figures were read jby the secretary detailing the number of patients handled by the institution for May:-— In hospital at May 1: 33 males, 49 females (total 82);. admissions for May: 57, 62 (119); discharges.: 44., 66 (109); deaths: 3, 0.(3); remaining in at May 31: 44, 45 (89); births 13,, 15 (28); operations majpr 9, minor 36; daily average for May 81.58, last year 76.5. Acquisition of Cottages The question of purchasing additional cottages in order to provide further accommodation for the nursing staff was, again discussed, Messrs Buddie and Suckling and the chairman being appointed to go further with the matter. Mr Burt, pointed out that by making such a purchase the board would be saved a substantial outlay approaching the sum of £15,000 which had been the approximate cost of the proposed Nurses Home.