HOSPITAL INQUIRY SOUGHT

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 72, 12 April 1937, Page 6

HOSPITAL INQUIRY SOUGHT

Labour CommiUee's Request to Minister MR BARNARD'S VIEWS An immediate public magisterir.l ir. quiry into all phases of Napier Hospital aciministration has been sougii.i Napier Labour Representatiqn Comirdttee. The Minister of Health, the Hon. P. Fraser, will receive to-night or to- . morrow a letter from the Hon. W. E. Barnard, M.P., eonveying the terms of a rasolution adopted at a epecial meeting of the Labour Representation Gommittee yesterday afternoon, which gave full cousideiation to the present dis|jute of Hawke's Bay Hospital Board members regarding hospital adniiuistration. Mr. Barnard expressed "himself this morning to be fully in sympathy with the dusire to have a public nxagisterial inquiry. The chairman of the Labour Representation Committee, Mr. D. B. Meliae, presided over yesterday 's meeting, at which the followifig resolution was adopted: — "That in the interests of justice and to restore in the Napier Hospital public confidenee, which has been shaken by recent happenings, the Minister of , Health *ba urged to authorise an immediate maglsterial inquiry into all phases of hospital a.dministration, including the outbreak of disease among children in the Shrimpton Ward; the actions ofj Dr. J, .Allen Berry, Sister Wood, the medical superintendent (Dr. 3 . J. Foley), the matron (Miss L. M. Croft) and other officers of the • board; that the inquiry include also the wages and working conditions of those engaged at the hospital; and that such inquiry be public.*" Mr. Barnard was requested to convey the terms of this resolution to the Minister of Health, and this he .did after the meeting. Interviewed this morning, he, said that he fully concurr8d with the sentiments expressed in the resolution. "I am disappoirfted at the failure of the Napier Borough Council- to take advantage of the offer made by the Minister of Health in a recent letter to the Town Clerk," he added. "In that letter the Minister coucluded by saying: 'If, however, the Borough Council in the light of these xemarks is still of the opinion that a further inquiry is necessary, I am prepared to consider its request if supported by some specifie reasons. Such inquiry, "however, should be held not by an officer of this department, but by a magistrate appointed by a commission. A commission of this nature would of necessity have wide powers and would be empowered to inquire into all phases of the administration of the Napier Hospital, including the eauses of the recent outbreak of infectioiis disease in Shrimpton Ward, and the action taken by the board and its officers to deal with the outbreak." "It is obvious that the Hospital Board is too much oecupied with internal quarrels to investigate fairly and fully the unsatisfaetory state of affairs at the Napier Public Hospital," went on Mr. Barnard. "In its present temper the board seems wholly unfitted to be the judge of its own cause. It is in the interests not merely of Napier but" of the hospital district as a whole that an independent and complete investigati(n should be held by (some qjitside and competent authority, such as a magistrate." He indicated that during the past tbiee months he had had several conferences with The Minister of Health on the subject, as well as correspondence. Further reference to "the dispute is being made at this afternoon 's meeting of the Hospital Board, which bep.an at 2 o'clock.