HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 13 March 1918, Page 8

HOSPITAL ADMINISTRATION.

DISCUSSED BY EGMONT COUNTY JOUXiCIL. Hospital administration was again discussed by the Egruont County Council at its meeting 011 Tuesday. The matter was introduced by a letter from Mr. M. Mcßeynolds, expressing his appreciation of the council's vote of thaak-U for his services as the county's representative on the Taranaki Hospital anil Charitable Aid Board. Aa long as the members on that board must bo approved of by tile medical staff, lis considered that electing members to tiie board was a l'arce. In connection with the indebtedness of ex-patients, there were two resolutions on the books of the Hospital Board. (a) ''That the secretary send to the contributing local bodies a list of the names of and amounts due by ex-patients." The list, lie thought, was to 'be sent out quarterly, (b) "That the names of i> ex-patients, whose accounts are longast due and amounts are over £5, be handed to the board's solicitor for collection." The chairman asked Cr. McNeill, representative on the Hospital Board* whether the chairman of the board.had. been correctly reported at last meeting as stating that the hospital was not run on business principles, but from the point of view of a Good Samaritan Society. Cr. McNeill stated that the position was that the board had 'been for some time without a secretary. 1 He thought, however, that Mr. Holden, the present secretary, wan the right man in the right place, i'rom January 31 to February 19 lie had collected £1072 lCs (id of hospital accounts. He thought that the hospital would now be run on sound lines. It was, however, not correct to state that £IO.OOO was owing on overdue accounts, because lie believed that this also included charitable aid, which it was never intended to collect, and he intended to suggest that separate ittrolllits for hospital and charitable aid jje kept. As regards collections 'patients, New Plymouth compared more than favorably. being in fact the highest for New Zealand, the rate being . £,r2 0s per cent., whilst Waikato was £2O, Auckland .£"24, Napier £2O. Wellington £l7. He understood that it would ba illegal to send a list of ex-patients owing accounts to the council, though . any number could examine the books. Cr O'Brien thought the matter was a storm in a ten-eup. New Plymouth had done really well in the matter ot" collections . The chairman thought there sliojld lie a differential charge at the hospital. He would not expect a working man with a large family to be billed for his hospital account; that would be an insult. But men worth £20.000 or £30,000 who used the hospital should have to pay more.