HOSPITAL BOARD PROJECTS

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27395, 7 July 1954, Page 17

HOSPITAL BOARD PROJECTS

Functions Of Central Advisory Panel EXPLANATION BY DR. J. CAIRNEY “The Pres*” Special Service AUCKLAND, July 6. A hospital works committee, which had been set up by the Government to examine all hospital projects estimated to cost more than £lO,OOO, would advise the Government on questions of necessity, priority, and unance,- with the object of speeding up essential works and eliminating wasteful expenditure, said the Direc-tor-General of Health (Dr. J. Cairney), in a letter received by the Auckland Hospital Board last evening. Dr. Cairney told the board that £69,000,000 had been spent on capital works in New Zealand last year. Labour and material shortages had now largely disappeared, and the Government was compelled to limit its annual capital works expenditure and to co-ordinate the different groups of works.

The Hospital Works Committee would aim to establish an orderly procedure under which all major works would be examined in their early stages, said Dr. Cairney. If the works were approved, their step-by-step progress toward completion would be ensured.

The establishment of the committee would not directly affect hospital l Boards, said Dr. Cairney. Nor would there be any changes in the established procedure to be followed by boards for any current or future hospital works. Where such action was necessary, boards would continue to seek loans sanction from the Local Government Loans Board. Approaches to the committee would be made through the Health Department, which now had the responsibility—when work was estimated to cost £lO,OOO or more—of seeking the concurrence of the works committee before submitting a proposal to the Minister, Dr. Cairney said. The committee consists of the Direc-tor-General of Health, the assistantsecretary to the Treasury (Mr D. W. A. Barker), and the programme engineer to the Ministry of Works (Mr C. M. Wheeler).

When asked to comment on the formation of the Hospital Works Committee, the chairman of the North Canterbury Hospital Board (Mr V. C. Lawn) said last evening that he believed it was a step in the right direction. *T would think that it will bring about a better distribution of money available for essential works,” he said.

Mr Lawn said his board had received a similar circular letter from Dr. Cairney, and this would be submitted to a meeting of the building committee today and the next meeting of the board.