MASTESRTON HOSPITAL.

Wairarapa Daily Times, Volume X, Issue 3130, 15 February 1889, Page 2

MASTESRTON HOSPITAL.

The regular monthly meeting of • the Trusties'was held at thelnstitute on Thursday, February 14th, Present— Messrs B. P. Perry, J. B, Keith, J.' lorns, J. 0. Boddington, and the Bev. W. E. Paige. Mr Paige moved, that Mr Boddington be re-elected Chairman for the ensuing year. He referred in high terms to iiis assiduity in the past,' and the satisfactory manner in which' lie had carried|out the onorous duties appertaining*to the office.- < Mr B. P, Perry seconded: the motion, and endorsed the remarks of the previous speaker. • The motion was then :put by , the Sooretary, and unanimously adopted. The Treasurer reported a ' credit balance of JE65,12s lOd, including an unpresented chequo of JJS. - : The. Pahiatua County. Council applied to be informed upon what terms .'the Trustees would: accept rate per year, month,: and patient. ■ The Chairman said the letter was addressed .to■ ,the ..Chairman ■ of.;the ißenevoleut Society, and had; been handed over to the Hospital Trustees without comment.

It was explained that the communication was sent to the Chairman .of tlia Benevolent Society along with ahotßer leiter from the Pahiatua Council, and it was presumed. inerror.' :

Mr Paige moved-" That an answer be sent that'the Hospital is open to the Pahiatua Council to send patients upon the same terms as to others, provided the patients are passed,by the Hospital doctor as fit for admission, . " . * •

Mr' Keith thought that if terms were come to with the Pahiatua County Councilthey would be sure of getting payment for cases that came from that district. • At present a great many camo from the Forty-Mile Bush district that did not pay, He would like Mr Paige to modify his resolution, Mr Paige .objected to' amend his resolution so as to give power to any local body to send patients to the Hospital upon any other than-the standing conditions,

After some further discussion the words —" And that the Pahiatua Council be informed that patients that are subscribers of 5s per annum and upwards are admitted (subject to the rules) without being charged any fees.

Mr Beetbam seconded the motion .wliioh was put and carried, TIIO following letter from • D'r Hosking to the Secretary wa6 read "In answer to your request for Borne explanation of the ease sent down for admission to the Masterton Hospital by the Chairman Pahiatua County Council, I have the honor to report. Ist. This case was not received in accordance with the rule to which my attention was recently drawn by the Trustees respecting chronic incurables, but referred in writing to the Trustees through Mr t Paige, '2nd, That I saw no hope of . benefiting him by any special treatment in the Hospital that he could i not equally well, or better, receive in " his home which he explained was i comfortable. The only medicines he I required were tonics, and cough . medioinesto relieve his troublesome , night cough and sweats, wliioh I i prescribed for, him and gave him any other necessary advice. 3rd. I feel strongly that tlw Hospital Trustees ! have no right to thrust au infectious ' disease like consumption of a bad type amongst several other people ; who are properly in their charge in . the ordinary wards and unable to help themselves. If incurable chronic cases are to be admitted, the l staff of nurses must be largely ini creased and a special., ward erected i for them or there must bo much , neglect. And again, ; they must not i be mixed up with acute cases of i injury.or disease or they will prove very muoh to the detriment of the latter by their constant annoyance. I notice that the Pahiatua correspondent of the Daily more than hints that I have often admitted chronic'oases to the Hospital, but almoßt invariably,' 1 have done this on account of some acute symptoms which I have been able to cure or relieve, as for instance, the late ease, " Richards," with chronic ulcer of about 20 years standing with varicose veins. In a few weeks he was oured completely ts you ltnow. In any case of chronio disease I. am bound to report whether it is curable or not in my recommendation to the Trustees, and I have no doubt the Trustees liave always been guided by my report. Of course there are weeldy attempts by rank loafers to gain admittance and >1 have always to exercise a great deal of discretion about admitting them, but in any case of doubt the applicant always has the benefit of it. In the case to which you have now oalled attention he expressed a preference to return home to bo with his wife and family since I believed liira to be incurable. Tlw Chairman said tho first intimation he had of the case was when he saw it in print, It was casting a great slur upon the hospital and.lie had asked tho secretary to get an explanation from the doctor. Mr Paige said as his name had been mentioned in the. letter he might explain. He met the man with Mr McCardle, and the latter said the Pahiatua County Council had sent the man down for admission to the hospital and would pay for his keop whilst there. The doctor sent a note to say the mau's "case was perfectly hopeless, and had explained the -matter tq him. He could do nothing'but give lijnv a tpnio and had advised him to go home.. He had given the note tq the Chairman of the Benevolent Society with a vipw "to that Society paying the | man's fare back t'q Pahiatua, and 110 tjqubt the money would have been refunded to them. The result was ' the article thatappeare'd,iii tlie Daily. agd which had elicited the explanation by the doctor, Jig intended to ntove , ft resolution andjioped 110 one .would ft was an attempt to injure the cognisant with the working , of the institution knew that it . was. an institution tliaj; was tlqiiig a. deal of good, and wl|y anyone should- try to injure so useful anl institution he could' hot understand. That the effect of the article wag already being felt had come to his knowledge.' • A resident of Wellington had remarked in reference to the case, " What an inhuman set you'are in Masterton," and another from Tiuui had .asked why "they had behaved so cruelly. h they had .seen from; letters that had appeared, a false estimate of the work thp Hospital had been established'not only jn Jfohjatya, but in. 6ther «• places. The ''ftogpftaT las only intended fo'r certain cases; The dootor had alluded to the remarks of the Pahiatua. correspondent' of the Daily, that thp rules-- of. admission were not always strictly adhered to, ThoTi'ustees lid- boundtlwdoutor

stringently not-to admit clironio cases, and cases of that sort without; endorsing liis report, and leaving- it' ' to,the' Trustees to decide.' There were ono,or.two oases \VliioU, presen- ; ; JP ted certain' features 'of „ acute symptoms, winch, the doctor" felt, _ - could be'alleviatfldj;ifnotpuredi had been admitted,Jand suoli instances, >notably, the man with varicose veins.;- -In the case.referred to from Pahiatua, it would not been right : and proper to have called* 1 the Trustees together to over-rido tlie""-v.-doctor's advice. There was certainly no call for the remarks in the leader of the Daily. He felt sure tbo - Trustees would uphold the action of the doctor, ■ and he would, move, - A i " That the Doctor's , explanation is' ■ ■ satisfactory,- :' x y': J,-f'i'v Mr W.H, Beetham said ho-had much; pleasure in seconding:-the motion;, He was very gratified to ■ hear the; matter so explained. The fullest publicity should .be given to the letter, so that the publio : linow both sides- of the The Chairman said ; it was to be* JF regretted the Chairman of the -Bene- T volent Society happened to be the proprietor of-a newspaper. Some time ago an article appeared in the Daily whicli he considered^very illadvised, in regard to cbronic cases. He ■ explained the position the doctor lookup, In dealing with cases which ' lie did not feel justified; to pass for admission to tbehospital, he referred \ ' them to the Trustees,, and stating ' that although not quite'within the. ' rules,' there were ciroumstances - whicli would justify the Trustees in admitting such cases, : There was great responsibility in the matter of admitting patients to the hospital. Instances had been knowu'of oases which ,were admitted, and it was soon discovered tliey were malingerers. ■ Mr, Keith suggested to the mover, that an addition should be made tajL the "resolution "That'regret be ex(W? pressed that exception should have been taken to the doctor's action, as it was quite unwarranted/ . The addition was accepted and ' the motion in its amended form carried. ■ (m Mr Paige , moved, and Mr Perry M seconded, That, a letter', be sent, to v the_ Pahiatua Star, setting forth' a plain statement of the-facta so that the minds , of : the- residents of that' district might be disabused of the impressions they had evidently ' received with respect to the Hospi- • tal.—Carried. • The Hospital diary was read, The monthly statement showed the num- ' her of patients in the Hospital at the commencement of the month was' six, since* admitted three, -diß- ' charged five, now in the institution four,

The following accounts wore •' passed for payment:—Smith & Hogg,' advertising; &c., 15s; Caselberg '& Co., sundries, £1 lis 2d; Payton & Co,, printing and advertising, £1 8s /' Gd; uhamberlain, bread, £ll4s I'd';® R. MoKenzie, milk, £l4s 9d; W: , Perry meat, £2 19s2d; J. Graham, groceries &c. £sl6s 7d, /' ■. /, J ' The Secretary stated that he had \ : endeavored to collect maintenance . dues from ex-patients, but had met • with-indifferent success, In one case in which a man was in constant employment, it was-decided to instruct (ho Secretary to take out a summons against the man for the '"i amount duo by him to the Hospital unless he gave an order for the ' ■ money on his employer. ; . Mr Beetham said ; he wished to. ■ mention a matter that ocourred at the last .meeting of tho Benevolent " Trustees. That body had three or four clivonie'cases on their hands of - sick and poor, and they wished the question brought under the liotico of the Hospital Trustees -and their " - doctor, to know if they could be. ' admitted to the Hospital there to be* nursed 'and receive medical attend-**-ance, provided the' Benevolent Trustees paid : for their maintenance." ' : They had one or two .cases boarded out for which they were paying 10s to 108 per week, andif some arrangement could be made for their:admis- : sion tooths. Hospital that institution ' would receive the money, which would be subsidised by the.Government;.-It would not add much to the working expenses and would prove a sourco . of income. . - The Chairman: Turn the Hos- \ pital into an (M ilan's Refuge Mr Beetham did'not mean'that exactly. The people lie referred ■ were not old, one was a young man • who was pronounced incurable, ; but ■ who would greatly'benefit by the •- •' superior nursing he would get at the.' -V Hospital. . ■ Mr Paigo said the oase mentioned-; > " was one of consumption aiid a hope'-: - less one,' ;■ , ■ , The Chairman said it appeared to »•.' him the matter had been brought' " ' before them in a rather indefinite' '' • form, It would-be-better for the Benevolent ■iSocioty-to put the cajies in writing and then submit them to the doctor. On his report, the Trustees might consider the question of their admittance.—The Hospital ' was not arefuge forthe destitute. As :■ to the accommodation in the Hospi- : tal it was sometimes nearly empty, and when least expected several' cases were'brought in which taxed • the accomodation to its utmost. ,"; .' Mr Paigo;trußtod they would ht)si-: " fate before doming to any arrange, mont to take over the Benevolent Society's patients. To do so, - would • mean an increased staff. - The work of the two institutions should be kept distinct"pne waß support by ! the' Government, and the other liy •' , voluntary contributions.' -Unless'the i... ' Beuovolent Society was prepared to ■ erect separate wards, and for the . ~ maintenance of a staff, they could * ' do nothing, It would be utterly i|A| impossible to put some of tlio.se casoaffp in the wards, With acutef'cases, it would bp fatal to their hopes of recovery, and an additional expense. The Ohaii'inan said the Hospital • - liau been and was still self-support, X inland lie hoped it would so continue. . ; Mr Paige said if the Benevolent Society paid for the maintenance of - their own patients it would be no ■ ; auuHicSS! income to tho Hospital, as ■ Government wouldnot subsidise such payments. ... - ■ ■ y said all. patients ' were'eligilile .if passed by thedoptoy, and that when doubtful they could-be " dealt with by the 'TriisteeV,-.'. ;' ; The dispussioii then closed and the meeting adjourned.