H.—3l.

(b) The Division of Hospitals. The Division of Hospitals is concerned with the administration of the Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act. The staff consists of a Director, who is a medical practitioner, and such number of assistant Inspectors as enable adequate inspection of the buildings and close supervision of the conduct and business management of the institutions. The New Zealand hospital system is dealt with in another section. Private Hospitals. —The Hospitals and Charitable Institutions Act includes provision for the licensing and control of private hospitals. These institutions are kept under close supervision. Before they are licensed they must comply with certain standards in regard to accommodation, equipment, and staff. They are of two distinct types —those managed by religious bodies, and those managed by private persons, either medical practitioners or nurses. Statistical details are set out in the table below :— Nature of Institution. Number licensed. Total Beds. Maternity .. .. .. .. .. 156 847 Medical and surgical .. .. ..101 1,532 .. . /Medical and surgical 134 Mixed—i.e., medical and surgical and maternity Maternity 135 (c) The Division of Nursing. This Division is under the control of a Director, who is herself a registered nurse and midwife, The functions of the Division relate to' — (a) The training, examination, and registration of nurses, maternity nurses, and midwives. (b) The inspection of hospitals which are training-schools. (c) The inspection of public hospitals which are not training-schools. (d) Supervision of the District Nursing Services under both Department and Hospital Boards. (e) Post-graduate education for nurses. The training and registration of nurses, midwives, and maternity nurses is governed by the Nurses and Midwives Registration Act, 1925. This Act provides for a Board consisting of the Director-General of Health or his Deputy, the Director of the Division of Nursing (who is Registrar of the Board), a registered medical practitioner, a representative of the Hospital Boards Association, two registered nurses, and a registered midwife ; the last three being nominated by the New Zealand Trained Nurses' Association or a similar body. There are at present thirty training-schools for nurses. These are all public hospitals with the exception of a charitable institution staffed by the Sisters of the Home of Compassion. At present there are 5,178 nurses on the New Zealand Register. There are four training-schools for midwives and an additional twenty-two training-schools for maternity nurses. At the present time 1,921 midwives and 823 maternity nurses are on the register by virtue of examination. There are in addition 173 midwives and 791 maternity nurses who are on the register by virtue of the fact that they were in practice as midwives on the date of coming into force of the Nurses and Midwives Registration Act. (d) The Division of Maternal Welfare. Maternal and infant-welfare work in New Zealand is founded on co-operation between the Department of Health, the Hospital Boards, the medical profession, and the Plunket Society. The Director of this Division, who is a medical practitioner, is concerned with the inspection of private hospitals, particularly in regard to the methods of technique in maternity work and the prevention of puerperal sepsis. This same officer also undertakes the inspection of the State maternity hospitals and the many public maternity hospitals or maternity wards under the control of the Hospital Boards. The Medical Officers of Health, through their staff of Nurse Inspectors, exercise a general supervision over the work of midwives and close control over the conduct of the many private hospitals in the Dominion. The number of Maternity Hospitals in the Dominion is as follows : — Four State maternity hospitals (the St. Helens Hospitals). Thirty-nine public maternity hospitals and an additional thirty public hospitals with maternity accommodation. One hundred and ninety-three private maternity hospitals. These institutions altogether provide 1,589 beds, of which 606 are in State or public hospitals, while 983 are in private hospitals. (e) Division of School Hygiene. School medical work in New Zealand is carried out by the Division of School Hygiene which has as its Director a medical practitioner and which is responsible for the supervision of all measures for safeguarding the health of school-children and for ensuring a satisfactory environment at school. The Service aims at securing for each child three complete physical examinations during his school life, but special examinations are carried out when parents, teachers, or the School Medical Officers consider them necessary. Children found to. be suffering from defects are kept under observation until the necessary treatment is obtained. Mentally backward and feeble-minded children are given special consideration, arrangements being made for their entrance to special schools, special classes, or other institutions as circumstances indicate. The work of the Service is also being extended to include the examination of children attending free kindergartens, and in certain centres clinics are being established for the medical examination of the pre-school child.

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