Napier Hospital Report

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 161, 26 July 1937, Page 8

Napier Hospital Report

EDITORIAL VIEWS f — Comments from Various Centres Tnational problems Below are printed additional extracts from the editorial columns of various newspaper* showing the importanee which is .attached throughout tho Dominion to the report of tho Royal Commission which invosfcigated the administration of the Napier Hospital. The Otago Daily Times: The investigation has bxought out the lack of •ffectfcive co-operation whieh seems to have: permeated the whole administration ^of the Napier Hospital, aud to have* had Rs origin, ahsurdly enough% ia the existence on the Hawke 's Bay Hospttal Board of Tival faetions representiag xespectively Napier and Hastings aud sarrounding distriets. No doubt, apart from its immediate purpose, this inquiry wiil serve a generally ueeful puTpose. It has Taised questions which. caIl*for & satisf actory answer in xelafcion to all publie hospitals — questions, for example, sueh as the compositiou of hospital boards and the health, ihe traimng, and the hours worked by nurses. . . The Commission 's of the administration of the Napier Hospital is to ' the point and eonsiatent with its other findings coneerning the outbreak of an infectious disease. The Wanganui Chfonicle: Dissension on the -Napier Hospital Board appears to have been oue of the major causes of the nnsatisfactory positon which deveioped at the Napier Hospital. Faetions, whefher territorial or political, are nnhealthy and they breed both dis"eontent, and disloyalty which in turn break' down the effectiveness of the organisation. rn the case of the Napier Hospital, the position of Dr. J. Allan Berry was particularly objectionable, for not only was he a member of the Hospital Board, but he was also a member of fTm honorary staffi In the one role he ossisted in direeting the medical superintendent, and in the other he was onder the general control of the medieal sttperintendent. In such circumstances the latter conld hardly be expeeted to exercise that fnll eontrol over Dr. J. Allan Berry which a medical superintendent shonld be able to exert. , . . The Commission appears to eonsider that the defects of the situation^ eould be met by a greater centralisation of authority, and eertainly the Minister for Public Health appears to stand in meed of having his hand strengthened but it will be a sorry day for the Dominion when centralisation of authority has robbed local administration of its major funetions, for if local administration cannot be effectively directed, then the much-boasted genius for democratic government will have disappeared altogether. If the less cannot be xnn, then the greater in central administration, cannot be contTolled. . . The nnsatisfactory sitnation which developed at the Napier Hospital has bronght to light how necessary it is to have a weU-selected board working together to promote the wejfare and effieieney of the institution placed ander their control.

Taranaki Daily News: Insofar as its criticism of ofiicials and individuals is concerned the report must be accepted as a. dispassionate, impartial finding upon the facts placed before it. The Cominis sio n' s reconunendations for the prevention of siiniiar conduct and of jnadequate methods will have the force af public opinion behind thexu. There wnl be less uuanimity, however, in i egard to the commisBion'a dcdieMo.'i that ihe inquiry at Napier has shcwu the need for centralised control of public hospitals. The -Dominion is >n-ing dragooned into too much centralised eontj'ol. A principlfs vitai to demociacy is at stake. Hoes the Dominion prefer self-government to "good government?" if it does not then democracy |s a farce, and the claim of dietatorahipa admitted— namely, that good gom&nimeiit imposed upon a commuaity is bftter than self-government by the poonk of wliom it is composed. Ihe ciroumitancee disclosed at the Napier Hojspital inquiry were most regrettame. jBut most of the administrative errors arose from circumstanees that do not apply to any other hospital district. For instance, there -is no other hospital district in .which there are two towng within a few miles of each other of equal size and importanee. This, the commission tinds, has led to o divided hospital boaid with repreaentatives from each of the two towns unwilling to sink parochial aims for ihe benefit of the hospital district as o whole. But to overcome local conditions need not entail the abandonment oi; a system bf hospital administration which keeps open the door for private benevolence, inculcates local pride and interest in hospitals, their inmateg aud their work, and permits ulso those whom a hospital serves to have some influetice upon its control. . . . . The most serious argpiment in favour of centralised control is that it might bring about a bait in the evex-increasing hospital e/penditure. It ia very qnestionable if this would result. As services expand so do costs increase. and judging from the experience of the central-controlled railways

not only does the amount expended increase, but the ratio of costs to service rendered mounts even mere rapidiy. Local weaknesses of administration such as those discovered at Napier must be eliminated. Economy inust be iJie Watchword of hospital administration througboat the Dominion, and inelficiency or neglect on the part of hospital staffs must be legarded as untorgiveable. All of which need not, ongiic not to entail the scrapping oi realiy democratic principles of local ccveinment.

The Christchurtai Star-Sun: "The Coirimission's findings are disturbing in tbe last degree, though its recommendations for the future are reassuring . . . Unfortunately there is disclosed » system of overworking and under-

staffing among nurses that may not be so easiJy cured. . . The (Jommissiou is tiiinking along the right lines in its suggestion that the hospital system of JNew Zealaud snould be in a large measuro nationalised. Certainly there should bo some despotic authority appointed' by the Government to exercise a strict control of hospial management and policy. for the Napier inquiry discloses weaknesses and dangers that cannot be allowed to continue and many of them have been created by the irresolution, to give it the mildest name, of the board itsclf."