Report of the Department of Health / New Zealand.

  • New Zealand. Department of Health.
Date:
[1971]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report of the Department of Health / New Zealand. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    16/136 (page 16)
    After studying with the Division of Hospitals the characteristics of the waiting lists of several hospital boards, the unit and the division discussed with boards generally some recommendations for improving their management. The unit assisted the Family Health Branch of the Division of Public Health in planning a survey and analysing information relating to the heights, weights, and maturation characteristics of children. A report on the survey has been prepared for publication in the Special Report Series of the department. Also published during the year was a report on the survey of health needs of a group of aged persons in the Napier Health District. The study, made conjointly with the Medical Officer of Health, analyses the information gathered by Dr T. Blair Harvey in a series of clinical assessments.1 The study made with the Superintendent of Cornwall Hospital on the prescribing and handling of drugs in a hospital ward was completed during the year and a report is ready for publication. As a result a new system of handling drugs has been installed in two wards using prototype drug trolleys. The possibility of extending the system to Auckland Hospital is being considered. The study on the use of convenience foods in Rotorua Hospital will be completed when the data of the study are processed in 1971. The results will be useful in developing studies undertaken with the Division of Mental Health on the use of convenience foods in Oakley and Mangere Hospitals. A study on the feasibility of using central kitchens for food services is being made at Porirua and Tokanui Hospitals. In the field of ergonomics the unit investigated the needs of disabled persons in the Pukeora Home in taking meals; and tenders have been called for the manufacture of prototype tables and chairs. A study involving some equipment needed to help multihandicapped children is in the preliminary stage. A committee of the Board of Health has asked the unit to assess the needs of confused elderly persons in the community. The survey which would be necessary to provide the information sought could well be used to review the accommodation needs of elderly persons which were last assessed in 1962.2 At the request of a committee representing the Plunket Society and the department, the unit also designed a study to compare the activities of the several nurses involved in caring for young children. During the year the Senior Principal Medical Officer conducted the second seminar dealing with the use of electronic computers in a patient- oriented hospital communication system. Representatives of nine of the larger hospital boards have now met with the department to discuss this important subject. 1 N.Z. Health Services Research Unit. A Clinical Study of Aged Persons in Old People’s Homes and Hospitals in Hawke’s Bay. N.Z., Govt. Printer, 1970. 2 N.Z. National Health Statistics Centre. Elderly Persons Accommodation Needs in New Zealand, 1962. (N.Z. Department of Health Special Report Series, No. 10.) Wellington, Govt. Printer, 1963.