PALMERSTON HOSPITAL BOARD.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVI, Issue 2765, 31 July 1924, Page 4

PALMERSTON HOSPITAL BOARD.

ENTER 1 *TS FROM CH AIK.MAX’S REPORT The following appears in the report; of lilt- Palmerston X. lluspitiil Board: — of the Palmerston N. Hospital Board’s annual report:— “Some comment has heed made with reference to the amount of the levies by one or two contributory bodies. It; was on one occasion stated that this >vas caused by the extravagance of the management. The board desires me to outline our position, not by way of excuse, for we are sntislied that all expenditure is scrutinised most closely, and consistent with etiieieney, there is no item that can be called extravagance, but by way of explanation as to the work of the hospital. The Hospital Board lias to work under an Act and carry out its provisions. The schedule of the Act provides that, according to expenditure and rateable capital value, the subsidy acts on a sliding scale, so that under the present scale some hoards get 14/- subsidy upon levies and other hoards get 20/-. This, in itself is an injustice because the health of the people should he a Government matter and cannot he a local one. The Board’s subsidy has been on the lowest scale and our contributors have had to lind the balance. Bor the present year, the subsidy is 15/- in the £, and this is an uniair rate when such subsidy is paid upon that portion of the levy which goes to pay interest upon the money the board has hud to borrow when necessary additions were made. Had we levied the whole sum the department would have paid £ for £, but, because we could not levy the amount required as the local bodies could not have found the money from rates, the department treats interest expenditure as maintenance and the subsidy is at the rate of 15/-. The board has on every possible occasion protested against this unfair schedule —especially as to the subsidy on interest money—but without avail. ALTERATION IN’ ACT WANTED. “The contributory bodies could assist the board b.y asking the members of Parliament in the hospital district to secure an alteration of the Act which would materially reduce the call we have to make upon them. Takiug the figures of the lust departmental report for the year entiiii# 121st Aia-reli, 1923, the Government subsidy was £ ( J542, against the levies £14,855. (Quoting from the same source, the average cost per occupied bed over the whole Dominion is £184.5, the cost in the Palmerston North Hospital is

.ClB4, or 10/- under the average J Otaki, which is run by Ihe department (and we pay 9 - per day for patients), shows an expenditure of £291.1 per bed. In the column showing the rate ■■f levy per Cl rateable capital value, our levy is 0.114 of a penny; the only other hospital district lower is Ashburton, which is 0.110 of a penny. Tt is well to point out also the cost per patient which each contributory body pays,-namely the amount of the maintenance levy divided by the patients sent from the district in order that the .public may see bow the system works: — Local Body Levy Patients Pafienf

Oosi per -■ £ £ Kiwi ten. 1613 35 40 2 1. Pohnngina 831 13 02 19 0 0 roll a 1480 138 10 15 11 Man a wain 1686 07 25 3 0 Knir anga 2265 145 15 12 5 Ilorowhenua 2401 127 19 12 5 Foilding 405 101 2 17 10 Palmerston N. 2408 859 2 17 0 Poxton 124 82 1 10 5 Shannon 83 90 18 8 Levin 259 08 3 10 4 Otaki 144 11 13 3 0 Kongo tea 18 48 7 10