Report of the Department of Health / New Zealand.

  • New Zealand. Department of Health.
Date:
[1959]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

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

    5/144 (page 5)
    The Outpatient Services (Public Hospitals) Committee, also set up in 1957, was given the onerous task of inquiring into, and reporting upon, the proper scope and future development of hospital outpatient services in relation to the general health services of the community. The committee held several meetings during the year 1958-59, but at the end of the year it appeared that it would be a further few months before the committee could be in a position to present its report to the Board. The Services for the Deaf Committee has been established to inquire into and report to the Board on the general question of services to the deaf. The inquiry is to embrace such matters as hospital services, hearing- aid clinics, public health services, deafness in industry, the education and training of the deaf, supply and provision of hearing aids, and any other matter having any connection with deafness in the medical, educa¬ tional, or social fields. The Air Pollution Committee was set up last year and held its first meeting in December. It is intended that the committee should continue as a more or less permanent advisory body, and its functions may be summarised as follows: (i) to consider and advise on air pollution on a national scale; (ii) to consider and make recommendations on action necessary to check the development of an air pollution problem in this country, or, to the extent to which such problem may exist, to ensure its abatement; (iii) to determine what sampling and analytical pro¬ grammes should be undertaken to establish the degree and change in the air pollution of New Zealand; (iv) to correlate and advise on air pollution research activities; (v) to receive reports from such subcom¬ mittees as may be necessary for the consideration and investigation of local air pollution matters; and (vi) to provide authoritative comment and advice on air pollution. The Medical Examination of Young Workers Committee was estab¬ lished by the Board in November 1958, its task being in the main to consider the question of medical examinations of juveniles in factory and other employment in New Zealand. Only one meeting of the committee had been held before the end of the year, but from the amount of material already available for discussion and investigation it seems likely that the work of the committee will extend well into 1959 before its conclusions and recommendations can be presented to the Board. HOSPITALS ADVISORY COUNCIL The Hospitals Act 1957, which came into force on 1 April 1958, made provision for the establishment of a Hospitals Advisory Council of six members, three of whom are representatives of the Hospital Boards' Association. The necessary appointments were made during the year ended 31 March 1958 to enable the Council to hold its first meeting in April. The six members are, Mr W. E. Bate, President of the Hospital Boards’ Association, Mr John Grierson, Chairman of the Auckland Hos¬ pital Board, Dr John Fulton, Chairman of the Otago Hospital Board, Mr D. Barker, representing the Secretary to the Treasury, Mr C. M. Wheeler, representing the Commissioner of Works, and myself as Chair¬ man. Like the Board of Health, the Hospitals Advisory Council has as its principal function the making of recommendations to the Minister, but the scope of its activities is naturally confined to matters covered by