BOPDHB History Tauranga Hospital Centennial Book | Page 36

Recollection of Dr Paul Mountfort upon his
arrival at Tauranga Hospital 1949
One ward was for females and the other for males. The
patients were aligned along the walls and if necessary
down the centre too. The first half was for acutely ill
patients and the second half for elderly permanent
cases. There was a third ward, made of wood which
had about a dozen single rooms, used for chronically ill
tuberculosis patients. It was on a small rise not far from
the main block.
The wards were the old Nightingale open wards. You
could see the earth through the split boards in the
sluice rooms….and dirty linen had to be soaked in tubs
outside the building under an umbrella in wet weather.

1960’s
The post-war years saw a large rise in Tauranga’s
population, going from 3910 in 1941 to 14,150 in 1961.
The hospital had to keep pace and the number of
operations undertaken annually rose by 70 per cent from
1383 in 1955 to 2358 in 1960. The available beds went up
31 per cent from 137 to 180 in the same period.
With the completion of a five-storey block opened by
Minister of Health Mr D.N McKay on 31 October, 1964,
the hos