By LAUREL STOWELL laurel.stowell@wanganuichronicle.co.nz
WANGANUI Hospital had been in dire straits before and recovered and people should support it, a former matron said yesterday.
Catherine Scrimgeour was lady superintendent/supervising matron from 1956 until her retirement in 1973. She took issue with surgeon Clive Solomon's statement that the hospital was unsafe and had never been so short of staff. In her time the hospital had about the same number of beds as now.
"Two wards were closed because of a lack of staff. There was a shortage of staff in every department which makes a hospital function."
At one stage it only had one junior doctor - 18 are now required.
It was short of trainee nurses and didn't have any obstetricians or paediatricians until about the time she retired ? and then it had only one of each. Surgeons and physicians did the paediatric work and GPs did the obstetric work. In emergency situations surgeons with no obstetric training did Caesarean sections.
"A Caesarean isn't a very skilled operation, to be quite honest."
People were sent outside the district to see specialists. The medical superintendent, John Trezise, was also a surgeon and lived on the hospital grounds. He worked day and night to maintain services and safety, often making the rounds at midnight.
The shortages were New Zealand-wide, but worse at Wanganui Hospital because of the state of its buildings. "Most of the hospitals were getting new things, and we were very late getting them. The place was worn out and run down."
Despite this the loyalty and morale of the staff and the spirit of service couldn't have been better, and the quality of nurses who trained at the hospital was recognised elsewhere, Miss Scrimgeour said. She was tired of hearing people complain about the current shortages and problems.
"You would think there's no help anywhere. "Adverse criticism and publicity, which we've had for too long, will do nothing to attract prospective staff and will put fear in the minds of the public."
Her message to people in the region was to support the hospital's competent staff, including management, and not be so critical. Many New Zealand hospitals were having the same sort of problems.
"There's always something that goes wrong but they've got a system where everything is reported and they act on it." Meanwhile, the Wanganui District Council had no business getting involved in the task of recruiting specialists, she said.
"What they're going to give them if they come here ? it's ridiculous nonsense. "The board and management are doing what they can. They're trying to get staff and they will get them eventually."
Back your hospital: ex-matron
AdvertisementAdvertise with NZME.