COMMUNITY HOSPITAL

Waikato Times, Volume 122, Issue 20501, 18 May 1938, Page 9

COMMUNITY HOSPITAL

EXPERIMENTS IN SYDNEY MAINTENANCE COSTS REDUCED SUCCESSFUL OPERATIONS (By Telegraph.—Press Association) WELLINGTON, Tuesday The successful adoption of the community hospital system in New South Wales was described to the Wellington Hospital Commission to-day by Dr. Schlink, chairman of the board of directors of the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital, Sydney, who gave evidence at the instance to the local division of the British Medical Association. Dr. Schlink expressed the opinion that the Wellington Hospital was badly constructed and arranged and that something undoubtedly had to be done to bring the hospital facilities of the district up to date. He said the main thing in a hospital was maintenance cost. If a hospital were spread out too much the cost became too high. On the other hand America had found that it was uneconomic to build higher than a certain number of floors.

With regard to community hospitals be said Gloucester House at the Prince Alfred was built with a GovernmentGuaranteed loan. It had been operating 18 months and was reducing the

costs of the whole hospital everywhere. It was so widely availed of that beds had to be put on the verandah. It had been found that people who otherwise would go into indigent wards were using the community block and paying something for their treatment. The experience in Sydney, he said, was that it was practically Impossible to run a big hospital without having a means test. Patients In the main hospital were always admitted on a means test. He said Gloucester House contained about 150 beds and had been crowded ever since it was opened. The income was paying interest and sinking fund charges and the general nursing service was the same as in the general hospital-