HOSPITAL TRUSTEES.

Otago Witness, Issue 2894, 25 August 1909, Page 16

HOSPITAL TRUSTEES.

I The ordinary monthly meeting of the Dunedin Hospital Trustees, held on the 18th instant, was attended by Messrs S. Solomon (chairman), John Mill, J. M. Gallaway, J. M 'Donald, J. London, and E. A. Tapper. COHHESPONDENCE. William Laidlaw, chairman of the Vincent ' Hospital and Charitable Aid Board, wrote I asking if under certain conditions patients ■ under the Vincent Board would be admitted to the Dunedin Hospital at the same price as tfoay would pay to the Vincent . Board.— Mr Mill said he believed that this matter should be referred to committee. ' • Vincent County, having severed itself from , the parent body, could hardily expect con- ' cessions. — Mr Loudon said he thought the ' trustees should Teply immediately regretting 1 they did not see their way to accede to the j request. — The letter was referred to the Finance Committee for report. J Br Fitehett, secretary of the honorary medical staff, wrote intimating that the following resolution had oeen carried unanimously: — "That as it is the duty of the assistant surgeon to take the plaoa of the surgeon when absent on leave, it is the opinion of the hon. medical staff, tffat i facilities should ba given whereby the assistant surgeons can fit themselves for this responsible work, and the hon. staff therefore recommends that, at the discretion cf the surgeon, a certain amount of operative wcrk be handed over to the assistant surgeons to perform, 6*uich work to consist of cases not presenting any special difficulty or danger." — The medical staff to be informed that the trustees are of opinion that by-law 145 must be adhered to. BEPOHTS. Tlie Finance Committee recommended that application be made to the District Hospital Board for £833 6e 3d, maintenance ota© in August ; and reported that the proceeds of deposit receipt, subsidy «n j Ann Brown's bequest, amounting, with interest, to £320 2s sd. had been placed to the credit of the building account. In connection with amounts due by ex-patients-, the committee recommended that Mr 1 Silver's engagement be terminated, and j that the question of any further appoinf,- ! ment be further considered by the turstees. — Adopted. The House Committee reported that a deputation consisting of Messrs Loi_don and Tapper and Dr B&tchelor had interviewed the chairman of the Hospital Board with regard to obtaining payment of ealary to ' Nurses Miller and Gordon, who contracted fever while mireing patients at tbe Fever i Hospital for the Hospital Board. They ! had been refused remuneration for timft ' t 6pent during convalescence after severe attacks of scarlet fever. — Adopted. I The resident medical officer's Teporfc set I forth that a patient suffering from erysipelas, sent in by Dr Will, had been re- [ fused admission. Dr Will agreed that ad1 mission of such cases would endanger the other patients in the ward. Frederick Blackmore, of Christchurch, who applied j for the admission of hie pon into the Hospital, had been informed that the Hospital beds were all occupied at present. , There was a>t present one patient in the ' . Hospital under supervision of the police, 1 and two others were being cared for by

specially-engaged attendants. AH .had *- suicidal tendency. All three were sufferingfrom surgical complaints. Permission to Dr Cattan to send in a patient suffering from early mental aberration had been refused. I>r Cattan complained oi the impossibility of looking after -hee© cases in the country during the period of observation. The male wards were fuH, and four 1 patients recommended for admission wore not taken in.— Tha Chairman expressed it as his opinion that the Hospital was uulikely ever to be too full to preclude admission of urgent cases. The clause remale wards being full was referred to Drs Oloss and Falconer, with a view of clearing- . the wards of incurable cases.— The reporfr was received and' adopted. | __