Sixth report from the Select Committee on Estimates : together with the minutes of evidence taken before sub-committee D and appendices, session 1956-1957: Running costs of hospitals.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Estimates
Date:
[1957]
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sixth report from the Select Committee on Estimates : together with the minutes of evidence taken before sub-committee D and appendices, session 1956-1957: Running costs of hospitals. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    19 February, 1957.] Drie FN. (Continued. F.H.A., and medical students taught anything about the cost of the Service? Is the need to run economically urged upon them ?——— I am being told “No” by the Non- Teaching Hospital staff, and I have not got my Teaching Hospital staff here. (Dr. Marshall.) It is not part of the training of a doctor. 792. That is a very important point, if I may say so: it is not part of the training? (Mr. Agnew.) You did ask, can Manchester give a lead in any other way. There are just two other things which we are doing which I can put very shortly. One is the cost of advertising. We noticed that our H.M.C.s—and I do not blame them—were putting in adver- tisements week after week. 793. For staff? For the same staff. (Mr. Gibbon.) Nursing staff in particular. (Mr. Agnew.) Yes, sisters or student nurses. The amount of money being spent was getting very high. We said to the H.M.C.s: “It is no good going on week after week and getting no replies.” We limited the amount of advertising by H.M.C.s and they took it extraordinarily well. Chairman. 794. Again, by voluntary persuasion? ——Yes ; we limited our H.M.C.s. They may put in two initial advertisements. lf they do not bring in any replies, they can put in two more. If they do not succeed, they are limited to one a month. Whether or not other Regional Boards do that, I cannot say. 795. You reckon that saved quite a lot? This is only a rough estimate, but we think the saving would be between £5,000 and £7,000 a year. 796. In the Region? ——Yes. Finally, another thing which we do which saves money is the adoption of standards, in new theatres and so on. I do not mean that there is uniformity of cost, but we hdve brought in a uniformity of standards of material. We do not see why in building a new theatre, one theatre should be so very much bigger than another or should be higher than another. We do not want them all exactly the same over the Region, but we do feel that there should be a cer- tain amount of standardisation, both in nurses’ homes and furniture and so on; and that is what we have done. 797. If you did not do that, each H.M.C. would specify of its own sweet will?——-_I do not say each H.M.C. would. If it is a new capital project it is under the Board, but the private archi- tects who are designing it might have a very free hand indeed. Although this is not a standardisation of cost, it does give us some idea of what a new theatre should cost. 798. What officer handles it? The architect. We have a fully qualified architect, with three or four assistants under him. 799. He is part of your technical staff? Sa Gs: 800. He again is your own appoint- ment? ‘Yes: 801. Does every Regional Board have its tame architect? The smaller ones might not, but I believe the majority do. Mr. Holt. 802. He does not build?——No, Sir. It is not true to say the Board’s tech- nical staff do not do any Regional de- signing work, ‘because they do; but to a large extent, the bigger jobs are let out to private architects. 803. What influence would your archi- tect have had on the new operating theatre recently built in Bolton? A very large one. He would discuss the plans with the private architect from the very word “ go 804. And he uses his influence to obtain some standardisation? Yes, entirely. He would tell the private architect “ At the theatre at so and so which the Board approved, the rooms are so and so. Why are you having these rooms so and so. You must cut them down.” Vice-Admiral Hughes Hallett. 805. With regard to your maintenance in the Region, when we were hearing evidence from the Ministry of Health, they told us that they thought, in round figures, one third of the money spent on maintenance was money in respect of work let to contract, and the remainder was spent in wages of permanently maintained maintenance staff and on materials used by them. In your Region, may I ask whether those percentages are so, and whether you find it more or less
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