BUILDING EXTENSION WAIKATO HOSPITAL

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVI, Issue 2926, 16 April 1891, Page 3

BUILDING EXTENSION WAIKATO HOSPITAL

♦ • TO THK EDITOK. .Sir.—Will y.m kindly permit inn spneo to draw the iittnnti'in »f tin , public to this notion (>fth« Wniknlo District lli».-pitai am! Chariti.bl.) Aid Board at their last meeting, in ciiriiiuction with thn matter of buildin" extension. At the meeting referred to, it was decided tu build a new dinuiE-room attho ho.-ipit-il, at an exponne uf.i;l;iO, winch appears a vury largo sum for a single rnnm. I utterly fail to understiitid what weighty rensons actuated the members of the Board in selecting » new dining-room an the most nocc.-isiiiy and urgent work to be ui.duiUktin, seeing that there is at present a din-ing-rootn at the hospital, which serves its purpose perfectly ; and why at the same time they should have completely ienured the claims of the nurses, to extra and bettor sleeping accommodation. At present them aro only tlirao bedrooms for five nurses, and as those rooms adjoin tho wards in the old hospital, it follows that the rest of the n irses is broken by thn noises proceeding from these wards when in use, an they frequently are ; that tho healtn of the nursing staff must ultimately suffer in consequence must be patent to all. Having lately been a patient in the hospital. I am abte to bear testimony to the highly emcieii* and creditable manner in which the nurses discharge their duties. But it behoves the Hoard from motives of policy, if for n<. higher and nobler motives, to provide for the accommodation and comfort of the i nurses, if they wish to retain the present eflicency of the nursing department. Tho Board cannnot pleud want of funds seeing that it was decided at the meetiiiß to place ooveral hundred pounds at fixed deposit, and further, the £100 that it was agreed to spend on an unnecessary dining-room, would, if not quite sufficient, at least have, gone » long way towards providing the very necessary accommodation referrod to. Circumstances, which it is unnecessary here to mention, prevented me from conveniently referring to the above subject sooner, but I feel that I should have failed in my duty, if E being aware of the facts stated above, had let the matter pass without comment. —I am, &c, KATKPAVEtI.