THE OTAKI HOSPITAL.

Otaki Mail, Volume XXVIII, 13 August 1920, Page 3

THE OTAKI HOSPITAL.

WILL IT BE CLOSED? i MOTION TO REPUDIATE LIABILITY DEFEATED. At yesterday's meeting of the Pal merston North Hospital Board the mal ter of the Otaki Hospital -was discussed at some length. Two notices of motion affecting the hospital were on th< order paper. Prior to discussing these Mr Penn suggested that, seeing thai Mr Murdoch (one of Horowhenua's re presentatives) was absent, and that the matter had* been so long delayed, if might be. advisable to further postpone the matter for a month, lo enable ever; member of the Board to visit the Hospital. Mr Penn said he thought thai ;■ personal inspection of the hospital would help members to form thci. opinion as to whether the hospital should be closed or nor. Mr Hornblow said the mailer had Veen held over quite-long enough, an i further delay might prejudice their relations with Ihe Public Health Dc partment. Ho objected to further dlay. (From the Palmerston "Times.'') Mr Hornblow then moved that the i following resolution, passed at a previous meeting of the Board, be rescinded: —"That this Board agrees to the Health Department taking over Otaki Hospital institutions on the under- i standing that, the consumptive portion becomes a Government institution entirely; and the Cottage Hospital at the end of the war, or when the Government so desires, lie again taken over T'V the Palmerston North Hospital and Charitable Aid Board." tie said that the motion hat] beer. passed during a press of business at :: previous meeting of the Board, and thai' a number of (lie members of the .Board had not. understood that a meter of great importance had been dealt with, lie wished ij to be plainly understood that neither he nor the Board had ever advocated thai the Otaki Hospital should be closed down. A spasm of unrest had passed through the tlorowhcmia district at the thought that the Otaki Hospital might be close,!. Twelve years ago the first, suggestion had come from the Horowhenua district that the north part of the county should merge with the Palmerston North Hospital District. It was thought that it would be iiioic humanitarian and more convenient if patients who were within a stone's throw of the Palmerston North Hospiial should be brought here instead of being taken all the way lo Wellington. The Palmerston North Board gave Horowhenua the opportunity of coming in. but this opportunity had not been made use of. While the Hospital Board 'had no objection Horowhenua coming into its district, it had decided objections to being saddled' with the upkeep and administration of the Otaki Hospital. The idea of admit ling Horowhenua was in | accord with the Board's policy of cm- j tralisntion. When a deputation had j come to the Hospital Board from Hoio- j w-henua more recently, if had'been a::- j derstood that if the county were mcrg- \ ed with the Palmerston North Hospital district, the Board would not uu- ji derinke the upkeep of the Otaki Hos- j pital. Had this point been raised, i: /consent to the merging would never jj have been given. The Horowhenua :, district's contribution would not pro- I vide maintenance and upkeep for the I Otaki Hospital. The merging of the j two districts, at any rate, had been | only regarded as a temporary transac- \ tion. Dr. Valiutine had informed the I Board that the Health Department j would take over the Otaki Cottage ' Hospital iu conjunction with the Sana- j forium. and would take in any patients » who so desired and charge their maintenance to the Board. The Palmerston j North Hospital Board should only con- 1 finite its arrangement with the Horo- | whenua County on the condition that j the Health Department look over the hospital and that Horowhenua should continue its contribution in the same proportion as at present. | Mr Bramwell, in seconding the motion, said that he was distinctly of the opinion that the Board did not realise at the time the motion was carried what the position was. Dr. Whitnker pointed out that when the resolution was carried, it was during the war period, and that conditions had not altered for the better in the .way in which the Board hoped they -would. Unfortunately the resolution of the Horowhenua people had hardened as regards making the institution a bigger and better one. which would add to the already heavy expenditure and cost of upkeep. If they rescinded the resolution-they could then approach the Department to see what action they were prepared to take in the in'itter. Mr Perm, who spoke against the motion, said that unfortunately there had been no definite tvnderstanding in the matter in the first place. He asked the Board to fulfil their obligation and take the Hospital over. As a matter of fact, he did- not think the public of the district would mind under whose control the institution was, but they wanted to make .-are that the hospital was not going :o be closed. Had they thought it would be closed they would never have agreed to the Board's taking over" the district. In referring to the- need of the hospital in the district, he pointed out that in the last three years there had been 200 cas-es per annum through the hospital from all parts of the district. Last year there were 196 patients, and 65 operations had been performed. There were is feeds provided. and during last month they were all full practically all the time. All this showed tfiat a hospital was urgently 'needed. Some of the patients treated had come from outside the hospital district. The institution was up-to-date, and well equipped, aid was recognised as one of the model small hospitals in New Zealand. With regard

to finance, he believed the horpiti was coating the Board £I6OO per yea or perhaps a little more. Even if : were £I7OO per year, they received £53 per year in patients' fees which woul have to be deducted, so that, it actual], cost the Board about £llOO. The secretary pointed out that, ther was great difficulty in collecting th fees, especially from cases outsid 'the Board's district; the Wellingto: Board would not pay them just as the; would not pay the Wellington Board. Mr Penn went on to say that th' Government subsidy would also assis 'ln reducing the cost of upkeep, am he pointed out that. Horowhenua dis 1 trict. contributed something like £lsOl per annum to the Board's funds which would probably be doublec I under the new valuation. Ho also men tioncd that. Horowhenua were paying £SOO for live years for the privilege of coming into the Board's district. The Chairman (Sir .Tames Walsou) said he was certain that if the Board had thought that they would have to lake over the hospital, they would never have included Horowhenua in their district. Mr Hornblow said that Mr Penn should make it clear that the Board had never expressed to the people of Horowhenua that it was intended to ■close the institution. Mr Broadbelt: Can we get the assurance of this Board that they would not close it? The Chairman: Personally I would i not be.prepared to give any such asI surancc. Mr Broadbelt: That bears out the conclusion we had. como to that members' had agreed that it would be closed.. Mr Hornblaw said that unless the [lorowhen.ua County were prepared to pay a differential rate to pay the expenses of the hospital, or the Department took it over, it would have to be closed. The Chairman said that it was quite clear than an agreement entered into by a previous Board did not bind this Board, especially if the circumstances had changed as thej- had done in this instance. He suggested that Otaki might be cut: out of the Board's district and merged into Wellington again? Mr Penn: The people would run a Hospital Board of their own sooner llinn close the hospital. Tiie motion was eventually lost by seven votes to six. The division list was as follows: — For the motion (6): Sir James Wilson, Dr. Whitaker. Messrs Hornblow, Vincent. Bramwell and Smart. Against (7): Mrs Gill. Messrs W. G. and A. 10. Pcaree, C'ollis. Moody. Broadbelt and Penn. Mr Penn then moved: "That the Public Health Department: be. notified that the Board is willing to take over the control of the Otaki Cottage Hospital at the end of the financial year." This, he said, was (lie natural sequence to the loss of Mr Hornblow's motion. Tie was willing to hold the matter over till all the Board's members had inspected the hospital. Mr Broadbelt seconded the motion. Air Bramwell pointed out that passing that motion would leave them in the hands of the Department. Proper conditions should be drawn rjp and the whole matter thoroughly investigated, before any such action was taken. Mr Hornblow- also opposed the motion. Mr Vincent moved as an amendment: "That the Board's medical advisory committee be empowered to inquire into cases treated at the Otaki Hospital from the date Horowhenua joined this district, and to report to the Board whether, in the best interests of the patients, any or all the eases could have been treated at the Palmerston North Hospital." After some further discussion the amendment was carried.