The Grey River Argus THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1948. WHITE SHROUD ON HOSPITAL BOARD AFFAIRS

Grey River Argus, 14 October 1948, Page 4

The Grey River Argus THURSDAY, OCTOBER 14, 1948. WHITE SHROUD ON HOSPITAL BOARD AFFAIRS

JTOR a public body, elected entirely by the people, and handling well over £125,000 of public moneys in a year, the Grey Hospital Board must be counted as remarkable for its silence on practically all matters of public interest. This drawing of the “iron curtain” round the Board’s affairs has become noticeably tighter during the term of the present Board, elected just a year ago., and it is lime that the 'chairman, Air A. Mosley, and his fel-low-members took the public a little more into their confidence. The fact that the Board was only slightly more “open” at Tuesday night’s meeting, will not be interpreted by the public as indicating that the change now so much desired, has been made. On the contrary, the amount of business transacted,,in committee, and which never is allowed to see the light of public criticism, is increasing all the time. Expensive Project:

No doubt the chairman of the Board would not be pleased that we should unfold to the public the name of a site where the question of suitability and availability is to be the subject of a report. One member stated that nine years ago “the Government had promised to build a hospital costing a quarter of a million pounds”. That, it will be noted, was before the commencement of the last war, and since that time -—apart altogether from the availability of labour and materials, particularly steel —costs have risen greatly. The chances of building must be deemed remote for a long time. We believe that the present hospital is as well sited as any on the West Coast, and much better placed than most hospitals in New Zealand. This year, the Board plans to have something over £17,000 spent on the buildings, with several important extensions under way already. Why, thepjf talk about another site? Why not look to the present site as the best one, and allow that, in the future, it might be necessary to move such buildings as the Old People’s Home and the laundry to another place, to make way for any hospital extensions that might be justified?] That, to many people, will seem | only logical, and it is principally for that reason that we were not prepared to keep the public “in the dark” about the Board’s investigations.

Uncalled For:

The trifling matter of a telephone call being diverted for information, it might be agreed, could better have been mentioned elsewhere than at the Board table. It should be pointed out, in all fairness, that the incident occurred at a time, now fortunately ended, when there must have been as much doubt in the minds of members of the staff, as there was in our own, as to just what information could, or could not, be given to what is known as “unauthorised persons”. The - fact that, having secured information of an accident, and then having carried out the strict interpretation of the Board’s decision, we should endeavour to classify the injuries received into one or other of the. prescribed categories, by ringing the, hospital, may quite naturally have led to another inquirer being informed that the “Argus” knew all about the accident. 11' the operator responsible should be placed in the position of. being “sacked”, then the whole of the Board members must accept the responsibility for an unjust decision.

It could properly be added here, that the revised system of giving information to the press

works most excellently, and, in our opinion, does not involve the hospital authorities in any possible legal complication. It seems unfortunate, therefore, that the Board should make a decision of the “I would not stand for it” style of.' thing. In Committee

We hesitate to put into print numerous rumours which have circulated, and which may have well formed the basis of discussion when the Board went into committee at the conclusion of the public section of its meeting on Tuesday night. If that business concerned matters that were not purely private and personal, as between person and person, and did not involve Board members in any breach, of confidence, then it ought to be allowed to come under the searchlight of public opinion. As it is. wc~ are as much unaware of the.secret matters discussed as are most of the genera] public. In the inter-' ests of the Board itself, of the patients (who must be the primary concern) and of the general public, who, at any time, may have to become patients, the Board should make known the nature of all business, unless it can assign to it the reason wc have given.

The "white shroud” has too long covered the affairs of the Grey Hospital Board, and it is a matter of public concern that the people should know what is being done, so that the members of the Board may be called upon to give an account of their stewardship of public moneys, as well as of human rights, at the proper time.