HOSPITAL BOARD LEVIES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 271, 12 August 1919, Page 8

HOSPITAL BOARD LEVIES

PROTEST FROM LOWER HUTT. ■ Some weeks'' ago when the annual statement of hospital charges due by the Lower Hurt Borough Council was received by that council,.some surprise was expressed by the , Mayor and several councillors .at the increased charges for the year, and it was decided to write to the Hospital a,nd Charitablo Aid Board asking for derails of tho increased charges. To this request the Hospital and Charitablo Aid Board replied stating that no particulars or details of the' increased expenditure could be given as it was not desirable that anv details should be made public. As this reply was -unsatisfactory the council decided to go further in the mat. ter, and accordingly wrote'to the Minister of Public Health (the Hon. G. W. Russell) asking that he bring pressure to bear on the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board in order to have tlio MorulaI tion desired given.

At last night's meeting of the Borough Council' the following reply was received from tho Minister of Public Health:— "I am' in receipt of your letter of the ,18th ult., in which you complained that the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board has declined to give you certain detailed information ooncerning tho expenditure in connection witifc hospital cases in your borough. I am having inquiries made from tho Hospital Board, and in the meantime I nnclose for your information copy of an explanatory letter which I received from tho acting-secretary of the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board in' connection with this matter. With regard to tlhe questions at issue between your council and the Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, I do not feql called upon to oxpress an opinion. Tho board is a responsible public authority, upon which your council, as a contributory body, is represented. Consequently, it appears to me that - the constitutional course is for your council's representative to take action at the board's meetings. Tho question of supplying all contributory bodies with the details you ask for (has, from time to time, come under consideration. I admit there are points lwtli for and against the proposal; into these it is not necessary at present to enter. I do not feel justified in acceding to your request by bringing pressure to bear on the board in the direction asked for.' 1 | Tho letter from tho acting-secretary of the Hospital Board was ns follows:— "In order to mako tho position quite clear to you, I beg to advise thr> this /board, at-the request of that council, has already furnished tlje approximate expenditure incurred in connection with patients from that district for tho year ended March, 1019, and at tho same time information was supplied as to the total amount of maintenance fees charged to patients, and tho total amount collected from such patients for this same period. The information did not apparently satisfy that Borough Council, and it then asked: (1) That the names and addresses of each patient from this borough be supplied; (2) tho actual expenditure incurred in connection with each patient; (3) the actual amount collected from eacih patient. It was this further information that my board at its last meeting resolved that it could not see its way io comply with. -In the opinion of 'he board the request for details as to expenditure incurred- 1 in conncction with each patient was of too nrivate s.nd personal a nature to be disclosed."

In discussing tho matter last evening t'lie Mayor (Mr. F;. P. R-ish worth) said that the attitude taken up by the Hospital Board was a most extraordinary one. With reference to the request from the council he thought it was not too much to ask that a detailed account be 'urnished. The suggestion that, an un-f-iv use might be made of information given was an attempt to smee.r sickly sentiment over public business. Tt wor. not conceivable that, tho council should publish anv "l'ivate information.

Councillor Cotton supported the Mayor's remarks, and said that, the attitude taken up by the Hospital Board was a ridiculous one. He would move that M<e council still persist in its efforts to obtain fiho desired information. This was seconded and agreed to.