QUEEN VICTORIA HOSPITAL

Southland Times, 16 October 1942, Page 4

QUEEN VICTORIA HOSPITAL

Reopening Shortly The Queen Victoria Hospital, formerly known as Dee Street Hospital, is to be reopened in two or three weeks’ time. For a start there will be accommodation for 40 patients, but this number can be speedily increased if the necessity arises. The whole building has been renovated and many new appliances and fittings installed. The hospital was inspected yesterday by members of the Southland Hospital Board. Satisfaction was expressed at the work done. One member said: “We have a new hospital here, more up-to-date in some respects than Kew.” The whole building is now heated with a hot-water system. An exception is the operating theatre, which is heated by warm air supplied from a machine in the basement. This machine will not only keep the air in the theatre at any desired temperature, but it will also keep the air fresh. The old fireplaces and stoves have been removed from the wards, which are now heated throughout on the hotwater system. Delay in reopening the hospital was occasioned by the difficulty of getting the boilers necessary to supply the hospital with hot water. Two new boilers have now been installed and thgre is provision for an ample supply of hot water for all purposes. Many modern labour-saving devices have been installed. As an example there is in the kitchen a mechanical potato peeler which is said to do the work efficiently and quickly. The kitchen is also equipped with a large and up-to-date coke-burning range, which has many features that would be appreciated by the housewife.