HOSPITAL CONTROL

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 8, Issue 85, 29 June 1945, Page 5

HOSPITAL CONTROL

A FAR-REACHING PROPOSAL 1 merging with waikato rX/ 1 y HALVING EXISTING LEVY "I want it to be thoroughly understood that I am not in any way criticising the work of the present Whakatane Hospital Board' in making this proposal," said Mr J. L. Burnett at the meeting of the Whakatane County Council last Tuesday. "I think we all recognise that the Board is doing the best it can with the ( limited facilities at' its disposal, . but I feel that if we see a way to ease the burden of the Hos- j. pital rate it is our duty to do j. so." ' i Mr Burnett was discussing , the \ i failure of the County Councils r • throughout the Province to back up t the lead given by Mangonui in refus- 1 Ing to levy the current Hospital rate * and went on to say that following some invesigation of the figures sub- c : . scribed by other towns and counties i to their respective Hospital Boards, i he had been amazed to find that in r . the majority of cases they were not '( paying anything like tlie figure Whawas paying for its hospital ' administration. The Waikato Hospital Board, had for instance, no less than twenty-four contributing bodies many of them on a 'par with Whakatane as far as capital and unimproved values were concerned were paying less than oO jjct cent, what they were called upon to pay. < The total levy for Waikato was £78 612 over the whole hospital area. The Hamilton Borough with a capital value of £(j,-11l 000, and an unimproved value of £2,193,000 paid only £800 more than Whakatane, -which levy this year amounted, to £9500. Otorohanga with capital and unimproved values almost identical to Whakatane paid only £417:>. In at least half a dozen instances counties of a similar type were paying less than half W.hakatane's levy. For instance again the. Rotorua Bors ough levy was £2820, and the County £2011. The two together was not half what the Whakatane County was called upon to stand alone, and yet in return they received a better and bigger service due to the big institution which they supported, for the Waikato hospital was as modern as any other in the Dominion. The whole position, called for very . serious consideration, and it was obvious that a great advantage would follow a merging with the Waikato Board. To do this, the Act prescribed that two or more contributing authorities should move in that direction, and following favourable consideration the linking up wgs brought about by order-in-coun- - cil by the Governori-GeneraL Alternatively the objective could lie achieved by a Magisterial enquiry. Should a merger take place the exlisting hospital would contiuue to operate but the costs would be very much smaller being spread over a much bigger population by an organisation already in existence. Serious cases would be transferred to the larger institution, and instead •rT'a board as at present constituted delegates would be elected to attend the meetings of the Waikato Board. There would; of' course be local committees' to back up the members. One. of the greatest problems, he understood, which faced the local Board was the annually recurring charges from other Boards for the treatment of outside patients, amounting to £4000. This> would lie largely obviated. The more he had considered the-figures of other centres the more lie had been astounded by the comparison. Cr McCready: Think of Mangonui "with a rate. The Chairman: I'm concerned "with our own, which is over 2d and there's no knowing when it's going to stop. I contend that wc should seek a conference with the Borough Council and go fully into the matter of approaching the Hospital Board to see whether or not we could effect a merger. In answer to Cr Luxton's query the chairman said that it was likely that only, one representative wouli 0 :go forward as a Board member froiv the district but he would be. backet by local committees. Cr McGougan declared himself a: quite satisfied with the suggestior

1 - - which he sulci would do away with .1 the expensive building programme e now under review. He did not think that anyone would stand in the way ' 5 of it. v On the motion of the Chairmav d the Council decided to'approach th( n Borough Council as the. other con d tributing authority with a view t( discussing the. prospective union o is the Whakatane Hospital distric n'with the Waikato Hospital district