29

f1.—22

Stipendiary medical staff : Michael Charles Frederick Morkane, M.8., Ch.B. N.Z. Nursing staff : Matron, Miss Stewart, and 3 probationers. Domestic staff : 1 cook, 1 housemaid, 1 laundress, 1 porter, and 1 gardener. Number of beds available for males, 26 ; for females, 8 (including children's cots) : total, 34. Average number of patients per diem, 29. Average number of patients to each of nursing staff, 7-2. In-patients : Number of patients on 31st March, 1908, 26 ; admitted during year, 86 ; discharged during year, 70 ; died during year, 9 ; in hospital on 31st March, 1909, 33. Sex —Male, 81 ; female, 31 : total, 112. Collective days' stay, 10,752 ; individual average days' stay, 96 ; average daily cost per head : 3s. Ofd. ; average daily payment per head, Is. Id. ; average daily cost per head after deducting in-patients' payments, Is. llfd. Weekly fee charged for maintenance, £1 ; children, 10s. per week. Percentage of cost of administration on maintenance-expenditure, 5-54. Localities, broadly, from which patients came : Westland County, 50 ; Kumara Borough, 40 ; Grey County and other districts, 22. Nationalities of patients : New Zealand, 36 ; Ireland, 23 ; England, 18 ; Scotland, 9 ; Australia, 6 ; China, 5 ; Italy, 4 ; Germany, 3 ; Switzerland, 3 ; Wales, Portugal, Tasmania, Canada, Cape Colony, 1 each : total, 112. Visited 30th September, 1908, and 15th March, 1909. If this Hospital is to remain, it must be put into good order. With the exception of the male ward the whole building is ruinous, the female ward being especially unfitted for its purpose. I told the Trustees this, and also that they must not look for further assistance from the Government than the £500 grant of last session. To give additional money to Westland, which is already better supplied with hospitals than other parts of the Dominion, would not be fair. There is an excellent Hospital at Greymouth, thirteen miles distant, and a new Hospital in course of erection at Hokitika, eighteen miles away, both places connected by good roads and railway. In fairness, however, to the Kumara Trustees, I must admit that the Hospital appeared to be better conducted than previously, and the prices paid for foodstuffs and drugs were distinctly reasonable. 19. WAIPAWA HOSPITAL. Governing body : Waipawa District Hospital Board. Usual date of meeting : First Thursday in month. Secretary : G. B. Ashley. Stipendiary medical staff : S. C Godfrey, M.S., M.B. Edin. Nursing staff : Matron, Miss M. E. Carston, and 5 registered nurses and 1 unregistered nurse. Domestic staff : 1 cook, 2 housemaids, 2 laundresses, 1 porter, 1 gardener. Number of beds available for males, 29 ; for females, 12 ; children's cots, 2 : total, 43. Average number of patients per diem, 24. Average number of patients to each of nursing staff, 3-4. In-patients : Number of patients on 31st March, 1908, 21 ; admitted during year, 268. Discharged during year, 253 ; died during year, 12 ; in hospital on 31st March, 1909, 24. Sex—Male, 209 ; female, 80 : total, 289. Collective days' stay, 8,872 ; individual average days' stay, 31; average daily cost per head, ss. sfd. ; average daily payment per head, Is. 3d. ; average daily cost per head after deducting in-patients' payments, 4s. 2fd. ; weekly fee charged for maintenance, £1 Is. Percentage of cost of administration on maintenance-expenditure, 7-16. Localities, broadly, from which patients came : Waipukurau and Hatuma, 72 ; Waipawa, 27 ; Porangahau and coast, 26 ; Bush, 57 ; Dannevirke, 7 ; Kaikora, 27 ; Woodville, 7 ; Ongaonga, 19 ; Hastings, 9 ; Napier, 6 ; other parts, 32 : total, 289. Nationalities of patients : New Zealand, 141; English, 47 ; Scotch, 19 ; Irish, 29 ; Australian, 18 ; Scandinavian, 15 ; Danish, 5 ; German, 5 ; Swiss, 2 ; sundry, 8 : total, 289. Visited on sth August and 13th November, 1908. The number of patients on each visit was low, being twenty-five in August and twenty-one in November. The Board had plans prepared for the extension of the Hospital, and were intending to undertake first the erection of the administrative block, but I pointed out to them that, as the accommodation for female patients was far from what it should be, this should be rectified first. A better infectious-diseases ward is needed, the place .meant for such cases being only a small single ward and nurse's room attached. These are used as store-room and night nurses' quarters. This Hospital does not train nurses, but, with the class of work done and the number of patients usually taken, it might well do so. As it is, the staff of six nurses besides the Matron are all trained nurses, receiving salaries of £56 per annum or upwards. This is an unnecessary expense to the Hospital, and means a very low percentage of nurses to patients. This percentage could be increased at not very much cost by employing pupil-nurse's. Much of the work of the wards is done by wardmaids. Miss Carston, the Matron, pays special attention to hospital economics. Among little economies practised is the manufacture of soap on the premises. Dr. Godfrey returned from England in December, and has resumed his work at the Hospital.