HOSPITAL WAITING LIST.

Manawatu Herald, Volume L, Issue 3908, 16 February 1929, Page 2

HOSPITAL WAITING LIST.

NOT FAVOURED BY PALMERSTON BOARD. The suggestion placed before the Palmerston North Hospital Board on Thursday that in view of the crowded nature of the hospital and lack of accommodation for additional nurses, a patients’ waiting list should be established, met with opposition by members. Mr. J. K. Hornblow said it is hound to create a scandal sooner or later. The hospital was open to alb There was a time when it was thought only the indigent poor should be admitted, while those who could afford it should go to private hospitals. That idea was now dead and with a waiting list he felt sure there would be complaints from all quarters of people not being able to gain admission because of insufficient beds. It Was possible that in the next 10 years the population of Palmerston North district will have gfiOAvn to such an extent that more accommodation will be wanted. Increased expenditure could not be avoided but the levies will have to be piore equitably distributed. Mrs. Abraham considered a waiting list would be most unsatisfactory in l every way. It would do the hospital no good and may be harmful to members of the community if they realised they had to wait several weeks! before being admitted. The chairman (Sir J. G. Wilson) observed that if the hospital was to employ additional nurses there must he accommodation for them. There would he 100 nur’ses there in a very short time. However, the position would be quite all right until new wards were opened. Mr. H. W. 'Smart: That will mean seeing that the wards are not overcrowded. Mr. Hornblow: And a waiting list will do the job? 'The secretary: It is doing the job in Wellington. Mi’. Hornblow: Yes, until the commission said you couldn’t deny the people the right to go into the hospital. The reccommendation was not adopted.