HOSPITALS

Hokitika Guardian, 19 August 1930, Page 5

HOSPITALS

INSPECTOR’S STRICTURES. In the Director General of Health’s (Dr J. A. Valintine) annual report to the Minister of Health for presentation to Parliament it is stated by the Director of the Division of Hospitals:— Since my appointment as Director of the Division of Hospitals, in August, 1929, many of the hospitals of the. Dominion .have been visited. Generally speaking, our hospitals maintain a high standard of efficiencyboth professional and lay ...staff exert their,utmost endeavours towards maintaining this standard. In sonie instances,.rhowever, one fipds that ,without’ in any degree lowering the standard of efficiency more economy might be exercised. It will , be endeavoured to indicate ih the ftiture, as in the past, during the course of inspections where and how these, economics can best be ' effected. ' 1 .That “economy” is not always one of the . watchwords of a Hospital Board was ' amply indicated as the result of an inquiry which was held in connection with certain matters of expenditure of the Grey River Hospital Board. Here it was found' that the expenditure bn ' certain items was obviously far .beyond the requirements of the Board’s Institution. It was found, for instance, that the purchase of alcoholic liqour in' comparison with .the. amount used in the hospital was several hundred per cent, in excess,^.-At the same time the control of the issue of this item was so lax that the hospital authorities could not in any way account for the great discrepancy. Again, pot only were the ,a purchases of drugs and Burgical dressing greatly in excess of the requirements of the hospital, but the drug, bill was further increased by the excessive purchase of expensive proprietary lines which in general have no advantage over standard official preparations. In order to assist to improve the administration, several recommendations were plaoed before the Board for adoption. With the exception of one, all the recommendations were adopted. Unfortunately, the one the Board refused to adopt was considered to be the most important. Its adoption involved the dismissal of the officer responsible for the maladministration, and this the Board refused to do. As the departmental legal authority in this respect is very limited, it can only be hopeS that subsequent inspections of this hospital will show that the Medical Superintendent realizes his responsibility for the economic running of the institution This is not the only hospital in which the drug bill is unnecessarily increased by the purchase and use of proprietary medicines in preference v to standard official preparations.