HOSPITAL POSTS ENDED

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 19998, 25 July 1939, Page 5

HOSPITAL POSTS ENDED

SYSTEM AT AUCKLAND ACRIMONIOUS DERATE (Per Press Association.) AUCKLAND, this day. After being in operation for less than a year the medical staffing scheme introduced at the Auckland Hospital last September was terminated last night when the hospital board decided to discontinue the posts of chiefs of the divisions of medicine and surgery, positions held by Dr. C. R. Burns and Mr. J. M. Clarke, respectively.

Emphasis was laid on the high qualifications and professional standing of the two officers, but the majority of the board considered that the payment of £4OOO in salaries would not be justified when the social security scheme required the honorary visiting staff to be remunerated.

Far-reaching changes in the organisation, which included the creation of executive medical and surgical posts, were adopted by the previous hospital board on November 30, 1937. After subsequent discussions, Dr. Burns and Mr. Clarke were appointed to the newly-created positions on March 1, 1938, and both assumed their duties some months later. Each post carried a commencing salary of £ISOO a year rising to £2OOO at the ena of a year.

More than an hour was spent by the board last night in discussing the recommendation by the finance committee to abolish the positions as an economy measure. By a margin of eight to four votes the report was adopted after a keen and at times acrimonious discussion, one of the members, Dr. J. P. Hastings, leaving the meeting as a mark of protest when the resolution was carried.