HOSPITAL CHARGES

Dominion, Volume 7, Issue 2191, 2 July 1914, Page 7

HOSPITAL CHARGES

NEW SCALE . FOE CHILDREN,

For some time past the charges made in Wellington for . the treatment. of children at the Public Hospital luvve been somewhat irregular. That is to say, tlio amount charged in each caso hns been, fixed by tho administrative officers according to their knowledge- of tho circumstances of the persons responsible for -'the' 'payment oflHho 'fees; This somewhat haphazard method has beon fbund not to work top well, and now' that wo. have' in! Wellington a separate General Hospital for children' and an isolated fever hospital, the Hospital Board decided recently that a. •definite scale- of charges should bo arranged'and rigidly adhered to for the future, it being always distinctly understood that parents able to afford private hospital treatment for their children should not- burden {ho- people's institution without somo special reason. The new charges,- which came into operation yesterday, are as follow :— Children's Hospital: Children up to 12 years of age, lJte,. 6d. per week (with a/minimum charge of 10s.). That means it a child were only* confined in the Hospital for a day or even half a day there would bo no lo\ftr charge than 10S. i Diphtheria and Fever Hospital: Up to 12 years of age, £1 Is. per 'week;, from. 12, years to 18 years, £1 10s, per week. • . ,