THAMES HOSPITAL.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXVII, Issue 5039, 13 October 1926, Page 1

THAMES HOSPITAL.

MONTHLY BOARD MEETING. The monthly meeting of the Thames Hospital and Charitable Aid Board was held on Monday, the chairman (Mr W. E. Hale) presiding over the following: Messrs. P. E. Branan, A. R, Robinson, E. L. Walton, C. W. Parfitt, W. J. Hall, J. Rowe, J. Lange, C. W. Kennedy, J.. W. Danby, and the secretary, Mr G. Tange. BENEVOLENT SOCiETY. The- Hauraki Ladies,’ Benevolent Society forwarded accounts totalling £lO 10's lOd and asked for $ donation. The usual grant of £lO was made. RESIGNATION OF NURSE. Sister M. A. Coad wrote resigning her position as from September 30 and thanking the board fdr the consideration received during her training. On the motion of the chairman the resignation was accepted with regret, and it was resolved that a letter of appreciation of the services rendered be forwarded to Miss. Coad. WAIHI. HOSPITAL ACCOUNTS. The Waihi Hospital Board forwarded a list of accounts amounting to £97 9s, and pointed out that there wa£ nothing in the amendment to the Act that relieved the Thames Board of liability for payment. The Waihi Board also pointed outi that when the Thames Board had been notified of the admission of patients it accepted liability by the fact that it sent no word to the contrary.

The secretary said that he was satisfied the patients belonged toi the Thames district, but the question seemed to be whether the Waihi Board had made an earnest endeavour to collect some of the accounts. The chairman said that there were some of the patients on the list who could afford to pay. and it was Questionable whether the Waihi secretary had ascertained the financial position. Mr Walton suggested that the secretary should confer with the' Waihi Board and impress upon it the need for co-operation in the collection of accounts.

On the motion of Mr Brenan the. payment of accounts was deferred pending the secretary meeting the Waihi Board and going intoi the matter.

In reply to Mr Danby the secretary said that for 12 months the Thames Board had paid the Waihi Board £202 12s in. fees for patients treated at Waihi from the Thames district. Of that amount only £32 17s had been collected.

Mr Danby s.aid thajt if the matter was not treated feerWusly the tendency for up-country people to go to Waihi would increase. At Thames the patients were urged, to pay or otherwise arrange for their accounts, with the result that between 40 and 50 per cent, of the fees were collected, whereas at Waihi he believed the collection of patients’ fees was only about 12% per cent.

Mr Kennedy reminded the meeting tha.t there were many people at Waikino and Karangahake who were small wage earners and positively could not afford to pay hospital fees anywhere, and he would much prefer to Klee them come to Thames. The resolution wats. carried without further discussion. MATERNITY ANNEXE. The matron (Miss K. M. Ansenne) ■reported that there had been four births during the month. Five cases had been admitted to the maternity annexe and three were remaining at date. PATETONGA NURSE. The Patetonga district nurse, (Mrs L. McNamara) reported that she had attended ten patients, two of whom had been ordered to hospital. Fees collected for the month totalled £2 4s 6d. ENGINEER'S REPORT. The engineer (Mr A, M. Sommerville) reported that steam, heating hjrtul been in use continuously for 24 hours dajily during the month.- The third shift had been discontinued as from the end of the month. The coal consumption for the month in all departments totalled 48 tons 15cwt. ACCOUNTS. Accounts amounting to £2196 158' ■were passed for payment. COMMITTEES. The following committees were arranged for the month: District Homes, Messrs. Kennedy and Lange; hospital, Mesters Walton and Robinsons