HOSPITAL STAFFING

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 29, 27 April 1927, Page 5

HOSPITAL STAFFING

WOMEN HOUSE SURGEONS AUCKLAND MAKES A START Women house surgeons have been appointed to the Auckland Hospital for the first time. Two Auckland girls, one with Otago and the other with Edinburgh degrees, joined the staff on June 1. One of the last acts of the old board was to approve last night of the appointment of Dr. Kathleen Abbott and Dr. Alexandra A. Warnock as junior house surgeons, on the recommendation of the medical superintendent. Dr. Warnock is a daughter of Mr. A. E. Warnock, public accountant of Auckland, and she has been at Edinburgh for some years. She took her M.B. and Ch.-B. there in 1925, and passed the clinical examination for M.D. in January, 1926, For six months she was a house surgeon in the antenatal department of the Edinburgh Royal Maternity Hospital. Dr. Abbott is an Otago graduate, having taken her M.B. and Ch. B. there in 1926. Speaking of the appointments the chairman of the board, Mr. W. Wallace, said that when the appointment of women doctors had been suggested before, it had been found that there was not sufficient accommodation for them at the hospital. The accommodation had now been provided. Mr. M. J. Coyle: I understand that the junior male members of the staff had not been in favour of the appointment of women before. I am glad to see that a start has been made, whether the males are in favour or not. It is a step in the right direction.