OBSERVATION WARDS

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 795, 16 October 1929, Page 11

OBSERVATION WARDS

HOSPITAL BOARD’S ATTITUDE QUITE SYMPATHETIC The Auckland Hospital Board is by no means unsympathetic toward the establishment of an observation ward for mental cases at the Auckland Hospital, but it is decidedly anxious that the ratepayers of the district should not be burdened with the financial responsibility. The question was discussed at yesterday afternoon’s meeting of the Auckland Hospital Board when the Director of Mental Hospitals wrote suggesting that the hoard should reconsider the department’s suggestion to the board to establish an observation ward at the Auckland Hospital. The chairman, Mr. W. Wallace, said he considered that the request if granted might mean the thin end of the wedge in the direction of putting the financial burden involved on to the board. However, he would be iu Wellington shortly and would discuss the question with the Health Department. The Rev. W. C. Wood said there was an urgent need for such a place where cases could be observed without the necessity for them going into mental hospitals, which was not in the patients’ best interests at that stage-. He thought it should be made clear, however, that the hoard was quite sympathetic in regard to the treatment of such cases. The idea had got abroad that the board was unsympathetic toward the proposal, but that was not so. The board was seized with the importance of the proposal, hut the big difiiculty that had to be faced was in regard to finance, and in that the board had to consider its ratepayers. He thought a conference with the departmental officers would be desirable. The Chairman: There is a big need for an observation ward, but it is a question whether the Government is prepared to shoulder the financial responsibility. It was resolved that the chairman and Mr. E. H. Potter interview the Director-General of Health in this connection.