“Bolt from the Blue”

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 563, 16 January 1929, Page 1

“Bolt from the Blue”

HON. SURGEONS ASTOUNDED ' Accusations of Neglect THE time is fast coming when we will »haye to have a stipendiary staff at the hospital,’’ was a statement made by the chairman of the Hospital Board. Mr. W. Wallace, at a meeting of the board, after he had criticised the attendance of the honorary staff. “Like a thunderbolt from the blue skies.’’ was a simile used by an honorary surgeon on the staff of the Auckland Hospital to describe his astonishment at the statement. None of the honorary staff had the faintest idea that there was any suggestion of neglect of duty until they opened their newspapers to-day.

“Some surgeons do not see their patients after the operations,” said Mr. Wallace. “Not only should the honorary surgeons perform operations, but they should go round and instruct the junior resident doctors as to the treatment of the patients after the operation. A lot of patients have told me they do not know who their honorary surgeons are. They know only the junior resident doctors. “I am afraid we are trusting too much to the tender mercies of the junior residents,” he continued. Jf the surgeons do not attend to their duties, the time is fast coming when we will have to have a stipendiary staff.” On the chairman’s motion, the question was referred to the Finance Committee to consult with the medical superintendent, Dr. C. E. Maquire. “The Press report is the first we have heard about it,” continued the surgeon spoken to this morning. “There had been no sign, and no complaints had been made to any of us. Even now, w„e do not know the gist of the criticism, as we have only the report to go on. We are trying to get more details and when they are assembled, the staff, as a whole, will make a reply to the board.” CHARGES WANTED He said that the staff did not wish to reply publicly to the statement that some of its members had been neglecting their duties until it had heard direct charges. Personally, he could say that in the past eight days he had spent 16 hours at the hospital and during the week-end he had been out of town. -One week he had spent 22 hours on his duties there. Another honorary surgeon said that

the report was the first he had heard about any complaints. No patients had made him aware of it and he knew of no suggestion that the surgeons were not looking after them. This surgeon goes to the hospital about five days a week. MINOR OPERATIONS A third surgeon described the statement as a sweeping one which could scarcely hold water. Many operations were minor ones and almost of a routine nature and these required afterattention, only from the junior resident doctors. It was a general practice for the honorary surgeons to keep their own patients constantly under supervision. Attendances would naturally fall off during the holidays as very few operations were performed during the 10 days at Christmas and New Year. Dr. C. E. Maguire, medical superintendent at the hospital, said he could make no statement. MR. WALLACE EXPLAINS Asked if he had anything further to say this morning, Mr. Wallace said: “I said all that I wanted to say at the board meeting. Patients have been complaining to me that they have not seen members of the honorary staff. Some of the honorary surgeons go their rounds regularly, I know, and no one would be more pleased than I would, to find that they all do. “My main purpose,” he continued, “is to get the duties of the honorary staff defined so that we will know what to expect of them. When the duties are so defined, appli cants for positions on the staff will have a clear idea of what is expected of them.”