HOSPITAL STATISTICS.

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5390, 20 February 1929, Page 3

HOSPITAL STATISTICS.

THAMES BOARD’S AFFAIRS.

HEALTH DEPARTMENT’S REPORT.

A mass of statistics concerning,hospitals is contained in the appendix to the annual report of the Department of Health for the year ended March 31, 1928. The following dlata concerning the Thames. Hospital’s affairs is abstracted. Where percentages are given the Dominion percentage is given in parentheses. REVENUE. The cent, of running the hospital for the; year was £23,735, of which the State paid £8,276 on maintenance levies and. £l3O on donations, er 42.6 per cent. (41.7 per c.ent.) ; ratepayers paid £6,800, or 34.4 per cent. (35.4 per c.ent.) ; donations totalled £l3O, 0r,.07 per c.ent. (1.8 per cent.); fees collected were £4,17Q, and fees written off £6l, being 21.5 per c.ent. (19.9 per cc;nt.) ; rents, interest, and dividends £26 ; from other boards £l, and from miscellaneous sources £137. No loans or capital levies yvere made. CHARGES. Like most hospitals in the Dominion the fees charged for adults was £3 3s a week, and l half this sum for children. The three hospitals in the Bay of Plenty were the dearest in the Dominion, the charge being £3 13s 6d, and the Waihi, Wallace and Fiord institutions were the lowest at £2 2s per week. Most hospitals charge children half the adult fee but the Matakaoa Board makers no difference. No charge was made for operations which was contrary to the usual practice, the charges ranging from 10s 6d to £lO 10s. The charge for X-ray was from 10s 6d to £3 3s, whereas some other boards charged £1 is, and others up to £5 ss. In the maternity ward the charge was £3 3s, as at most other public hetepitajs. The Bay of Plenty Board, whose charges for hospital maintenance is qqual. to the highest in the Dominion, charges £1 Is for its maternity ward —the lowest in New Zealand. Out-patiqnts at Thames were charged; 2s per visit, whereas most boards 2s 6d, and one as much as 10s 6d. COST PER BED. The average number of bed's occupied per day at Thames for, the year ended March 31, .1928, was 63.4, making the institution the 17th in point of size in the Dominion, which has 77 public hospitals, excluding special hospitals. The maintenance cost pW occupied bed at was £l7B 4s_, as compared with the Dominion average of £l9B 18s ;, and the fees received per occupied bed .were £52 18S, as against £64 19s. EXPENDITURE. The expenditure; of the Thames Board for the year 1927-28 on hospital maintenance was £11,420, on charitable, aid £154'8, district nursing £193, ambulance £39, paid to other boards £1123, miscellaneous maintenance expenditure £65, administration £739, interest on loans £629, contribution to National Provident Fund £6B, making a total for maintenance of £15,823, Under the heading of capital expenditure was £1965 for buildings or equipment, and £1220 for repayment of loans or payments to sinking fund, making a grand total of £19,007. POPULATION AND COST. the cost of the maintenance of the hospital divided into the population of, the hospital district, including Maoris (16,410), works out at 19s 3d, as compared with the Dominion average of £1 Is and Waihi’s, the highest, £2. For evejry 1000 of population there were 4.2 general purpose beds (3.3), 0.4 maternity beds (0.3), and 0.9 beds for tuberculosis and' infectious diseases (1.2), making a total of 92 beds or 5.6 per thousand of population, as against the Dominion average of 4.8. Two private hospitals in the board’s district had another sixteen beds, of which eleven were for maternity cases. MAINTENANCE EXPENDITURE.

The analysis of expenditure on hospital maintenance showed that 993 patients were treated, the average number of staff receiving board was, 44. Provisions for the institution cost '£2'545, surugery and dispensary £B9B .domestic £2298, establishment £948, and salaries and wages £4565. The cost per occupied bed was £l7B 4s . (£l9B 18s), per established be.d £122 16 s (£142 2s), and Per patient treated £ll 8s (£l2 4 s). STAFFING. The total staff numbered 51, there, being on the average two nur r ses to each occupied bed per day (.2 below the average). Out-patientsi numbering 137 received 907 attendances, and there were 993 in-patients, including 88 maternity cases, 19 tuberculosis, and 81 infectious diseases. The two doctors received £BOO in salaries, the 32 trained nurses and probationers received £2065, the 13 on the aoine’tic staff £1094,-and the engineers and gardener £6lO. Administration cost was £739, which was 4.7 per cent, 'of the total maintenance expenditure, equalling the Dominion average. Of this sum £627 went in salaries, chairman’s honorarium, and board members’ travelling allowances, and the balance in office expenses. LOANS AND PROPERTY. Of the £15,000 boir,rowed by the Thames Board £11,149 was owing at March 31, 1927, and £1220 was paid off during, the financial year, leaving £9929 owing. There was no accrued sinking fund; The value of the land owned by the board was shown, in the 1928 balancet-sheet asj £5175, buildings £32,030, equipment £3182, ambulances and other motor vehicles £3l, and other property £5729, making a total of £46,147. Additions during the year 1927-28 to buildings, were valued at £l9Ol, to equipment £39, and to motor vehicles £25, while decreases were £361 under the heading, of ambulances and motor vehicles. TARARU HOMES. The Old People’s Home a.t Tararir had an average of 17.8 inmates per day. The maintenance cost per inmate was £66 2s, and £789 hi fees was received, an average pcf inmate of

£44 16s. Dominion averages were £72 2s and £26, 18s. Provisions for. the home cost £3O 8s per inmate per annum, £4 above the Dominion average. There were 35 beds apd the average stay of the inmates was 27.1.8 days, (180.9). CHARITABLE AID. Continuous outdoor relief was granted in nine cases, affecting 41 persons; temporary or intermittent relief in 14 cast's, affecting 17 persons; and permanent indoor relief was granted in four cas.es, affecting five persons. The table showing the causes of poverty of the persons to whom r,elief was granted explained that the breadwinner- had died in 12 cases, been imprisoned in one case, was unable to earn sufficient in two cases, on accounut of old age .in four cases and through physical infirmity in eight cases. Thirty-one c".ses were dealt with, affecting 63 persons., and the cost was £371. Rations accounted for. £3lB, fuel £5, board and lodgings £l2, burial £29, and transport and' board or assistance en route £7. PATETiONGA DISTRICT NURSE. The Patetonga District Nurse, Mrs McNamara, attended 139 cases during, the year ended March 31, 1928, and collected in fees. £26. The Patetonga people £5O, and £5O was shown under the heading of miscellaneous income, leaving an excess of. expenditure over income of £67. RATES. The rateable capital value of the Thames Board’s district was shown as. £4',705,058. The board was subsidised by the State at ,the rate of 22s 5d to the £, as compared with the Dominion average of 20. s 4d, and the rate of levy per £1 on the rateable capital value for the year 1928-29 was 0.305 d for maintenance and 0.035 d for capital making a total of 0.340 d, the Dominion averages being, 0.239 d, 0.41 d, and 0.280 d.