SURVEY REQUIRED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26633, 2 December 1947, Page 4

SURVEY REQUIRED

Maternity Services in Dunedin District

PUBLIC MEETING OF WOMEN

A meeting of over 200 women in the Concert Chamber of the Town Hall last night to discuss maternity services carried unanimously a resolution that the Otago Hospital Board should be requested to give first priority to a survey of the whole of the maternity services for the Dunedin district, and to publish a statement of its policy in respect to the present maternity services emergency.

The meeting appointed Sister F. N. Kennedy, Mrs W. K. Cameron (president of the Dunedin branch of the National Council of women, Mrs L. F Cleghorn (president of the Otago branch of the Plunket Society), Mrs A. K. Ibbotson, and Mrs F. N. Davenport as a deputation to wait on the Otago Hospital Board to present the resolution.

year, but would not be in use before 1949.

“ It is the declared policy of the New Zealand Obstetrical and Gynaecological Society that there should be both open and closed hospitals in New Zealand. It is only where training is done that closed hospitals should be maintained With a permanent staff,” Dr Dawson continued.

Explaining that the meeting had been called as the result of a deputation of women’s organisations having waited on him some weeks ago, the Mayor, Mr Cameron, said it was an opportunity to discuss the question freely, and to ask for a full and frank statement as to future policy. Saying that the National Council of Women was fully representative of women's organisations in the city, the first speaker, Mrs W. K. Cameron, said that the problem was a civic one. There were things that lay beyond the powers of the Hospital Board. Plunket Society Efforts

“The whole future position depends on the survival of the private hospitals. If they close down it will be extremely critical,” Dr Dawson added. “If El Nido, which has 13 beds, closes down, I do not know where we will get another 13 beds. Even when Marinoto opens we will still want the present private hospitals in operation to maintain the 120 or more beds required in Dunedin.” Hospital Matrons’ Side

At the present time, if the matron of a maternity hospital wanted to close down, her successor was forced to comply with Health Department standards, which created great difficulties, said Sister Frances Kennedy. She believed that a number of Government hospitals did not comply with those standards.

Mrs James Begg, the Dominion president of the Plunket Society of New Zealand, and vice-president of the Dunedin branch, outlined the measures which had been taken by the society to combat what she described as “ the maternal emergency.” Mrs Begg said that the Plunket Society considered that the problem had three main bases—the • shortage of buildings, the shortage of nurses and the phenomenal increase in the birth rate in recent years. “ In 1942-43 there were 31,800 births in New Zealand. In 1946-47 there were 41,800,” the speaker said. “This enormous increase took the authorities completely by surprise.” The nursing services had not increased in the same proportion, and this had created a great problem for mothers. “The staffs of maternity hospitals in recent years have been a band of Florence Nightingales,” she added. Mrs Begg said that the Plunket Society had endeavoured to assist in meeting the position. In the six Karitane hospitals throughout New Zealand, 100 nurses were trained annually, and it had been arranged that the last two months of their training should be in approved maternity hospitals. They had given excellent service there. The society had also appealed to trained Karitane nurses to work in maternity hospitals. Twentytwo from Otago took up the work. Some went as far as Thames, 11 served in the Miller Ward and at Quendon in Dunedin, and three were still working here. The Plunket Society had also advocated the “ good neighbour ” policy among women in the same street.

Secondly, matrons were expected to keep patients for a great deal less than public or Government hospitals. “We are running on 1938 costs, and there' are not many industries that can expect to do that,” Sister Kennedy said. “We are faced with prospects of award conditions under which we could not carry on,” she continued. “For instance, a 40-hour week was unheardof.” Thanks were due to maternity nurses and the Plunket Society. Karitane nurses were doing wonderful work.

“The way things are, the only way maternity hospitals can carry on is by the open system under hospital board control. Private owners are finding things too tough,” Sister Kennedy concluded.

“ Keep Importuning ”

Giving his views as a medical practitioner, Dr Gerald Fitzgerald said it was a sad and sorry plight when a doctor could not get a bed for his patient. The majority of women had faith in their own particular choice of a doctor.

“ Trade unionism and the 40-hour week are bombshells with whicn maternity matrons—who have been carrying on for years—have been unable to cope,” Dr Fitzgerald asserted. To the audience, he said: “ You’ve started something to-night, and don’t stop importuning.”— (Applause.) He had asked a master builder whether if commercial building was stopped in Dunedin for 12 months it would be possible for a 60-bed maternity hospital to be built, said Dr Fitzgerald. From the reply it was apparent that Dunedin could have the hospital for centennial year. “I put it to you this way,” Dr Fitzgerald declared. “If war were to start to-morrow buildings would go up like mushrooms to house Waafs, Waacs and Wrens.” Referring to the difficulty of getting nurses to take on midwifery, Dr Fitzgerald said it would be necessary to attract girls by offering them double the present salary (Applause).

“ State of Emergency ”

“ It takes a strong sense of necessity and urgency for women to face the ordeal of* a public meeting,” said Mrs A. K. Ibbotson, who spoke on behalf of “ the mothers concerned.” La Rochelle had closed last July, El Nido and lona would close at the end of this month, and Quendon had about three months more to go, the speaker said. Redroofs, therefore, apart from Queen Mary and the Miller Ward at the Public Hospital, was the only place where prospective mothers could book for next year. “ Redrobfs is booked until next August,” Mrs Ibbotson said. “ Within the space of 15 months Dunedin has lost the use of 50 maternity beds available at peak periods. The birth-rate is also increasing.

“This is a state of emergency,” the speaker declared. “ Mothers cannot book on possibilities.” Adding that Marinoto was still a dream, Mrs Ibbotson went on to deal with the facilities available at Queen Mary, where the patient could not have the services of her own doctor. In the Miller Ward, an additional strain was placed on the mother, as she was not given a sense of privacy and the restful atmosphere which was necessary. “In this emergency we can perhaps have temporary stop-gaps,” Mrs Ibbotson went on, “ but such a state of affairs cannot go on.” She stated that mothers generally were sympathetic towards tired nurses, and most mothers were aware of the strain that nurses were labouring under. “We are not here to adopt a complaining attitude, nor do we want to criticise the Hospital Board,” she said. “ I must say what a debt of gratitude we owe to the matrons of maternity hospitals.—(Applause.) These women belong to a generation of midwives who have not spared themselves. A 40-hour week for them is just a fantasy.” “There are mothers who nave to wait just six weeks for the birth of their baby and do not know where they are going to have it,” she went on. Damage was sometimes caused by delayed admission to hospital and by mothers being sent home too soon. Private Hospitals the Key

Dr J. B. Dawson, professor of obstetrics and gynaecology at Queen Mary Hospital, said that no doubt the position had been difficult, and promised to be even worse, but it was not insurmountable. The main cause, the increased birth-rate, had recently been accentuated by the disappearance of some private hospital beds. In the near future it was possible that there would be a further grave loss in beds. The deliveries at Queen Mary had increased from 556 in 1934 to 1100 in 1946. By the end oi this year approximately 1200 deliveries would have taken place, in spite of the fact that the hospital was designed only to cope with about 500 deliveries a year. This had been possible only by the addition of the Miller Ward. Dr Dawson gave his opinion that the increased birth-rate was to a large extent a deferred dividend from six years of war, and this would be a disappearing factor in the future. The difficulty was to estimate how much would persist. The birth-rate would not recede to the low level of the 1930’s unless because of economic circumstances, but it would nol remain at its present level. Increased costs and the difficulty of obtaining staff made it almost impossible for private hospitals to carry on. The loss of the private hospital beds had not been alarming, however, and had been offset by the provision of a hospital at Mosgiel and increasing the accommodation at Port Chalmers. Dr Dawson said that it was not generally understood that a maternity nurse could be trained in 18 months, provided she passed the necessary examinations, without having any general nursing training.

He said that the long-term prospect for maternity hospitals in Dunedin was a good one. The plans were satisfactory, but they would not relieve an immediate anxiety. The plans provided for the election of a 20-bed hospital at Marinoto, to be extended later to 40 beds. This would be done in six to nine months. The Queen Mary hospital was to be enlarged. It was planned originally for 40 beds, and it was now hoped to complete the facilities for the use of another 20 beds. This would be started next