HOSPITAL MATTERS

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 2975, 12 January 1917, Page 7

HOSPITAL MATTERS

CONFERENCE ENDS VARIOUS RESOLUTIONS <■ The Conference of Hospital Boards (Vas concluded last evening. Mr. H. ' Baldwin presided. Otago moved:—"That with a view to obtaining uuiformiyt this confcronco 'considers tho time is now opportune for tho. adoption of a classification scheme land a uniform scale of salaries to be ; paid to the nursing staffs by tho various hospital and charitable aid boards of the Dominion, and that this conference taken mich steps us may best ho deemed advisable to arrange same."— "Carried. The Bulle-r representative moved :— "That a eoiprocal agreement to he en- : tcred into botween tho hospital boards \ in the Dominion, not to chnrgo ■ each j other- on account of indigent hospital j patients from each others districts, cxi cept in regard to cases sent by the, ■ boards thomselves, but each to givo ■ nny other board nil available informai.tjon, and rentier assistance in collect-. ; iting accounts.;' The motion was lost. Indigent Children. . ■: , Respecting tho difference of opinion --between the Education Department and 'the hospital boards on'tho subject of ■the Education Department's proposal to alter tho system of charging for tho ■ tniauiterianco of indigent children, the > Minister (the Hon. G. AV. Russell) adjvised that tho Crown Law Office had /given him the following opinion:—"Tho •Education Department is not authorised by law to make a chargo according to the actual cost of tho mainton-'-ancß of a child with a minimum of. 10s. I weekly. Nor is tlio Department authorised to rotaiii all ■ monc-YH - reooived 'from the parents of a child until it : ceases to be an inmate, and then onlyrefund to the hoard the amount in excess of tho cost of maintaining a. child. : It is quite- clear from Sections 31 and 32 of the industrial Schools Act, 1908, that the Education Department must . provide in i:s estimates for the cost of maintaining, and educating children who are inmates of industrial sehools, less any amounts received from parents i and others who are required by statute ,to . contribute to the support of int mates. It ia riot authorised to collect the. whole cost of. tho maintenance of any inmate. . An order can tbo obtained directing a parent to pay up to ten shillings a. week, and in cases where tho parent, is unable to contribute tho Hospital and Charitable Aid Board has to pay up to Bs. a week. Beyond these contributions, Section 31 says that the cosf of maintenance and education 'shall he paid out of moneys appronriated by Parliament I for. the purpose." '. . , Nursing Staffs. It was resolved: "Regarding the recent amendment to regulations under the Nurses Registration \ct, this conference respectfully requests that Clauses 2 and 3 thereof be amended in order that a matron or superintendent ot nurses may not bo made the sole arbiter in dismissing pupil .'nurses after three months' training without reference to a board, or that it shall-bo necessary for the Registrar of Nurses to consent to .termination, of training of pupil nurses. Full authority should' be given boards to control their own nursing: staffs during training." Other Resolutions. Tho conference decided': "That it be a recommendation to tho Government that the Pensions Act be amended, to provide that whero old age pensions ; are misused so as to become forfeited, the Stipendiary Magistrate may "have power to iriake the same payable to the Hospital ami Charitable Aid Board of the district in which the pensioner , t resides, such'board to be-authorised to " allot in goods or kind tho amount of the pension •by weekly grants." After discussioiii it was resolved: "That with a view ,to increasing. tho efficiency of each hospital district, steps bo immediately talfen by the Government to seciiro'ifor practically every hospital in tho Dominion sufficient of the many motor ambulanco wagons which will bo thrown on the market at the end of tho war." It was resolved: "That tho suggest-. . ed' extension of the system of assistance ,in maternity to' other than the centres where State maternity hospitals aio established should be discussed." It was resolved: "That the Hospital and Charitable Aid Boards of this Dominion adopt a uniform scale of salaries for the hiiuso surgeons employed at)'various hospitals,- and that tho matter he referred to the Inspector General.", ■ '