Renamers tear at fabric of the nation's history

By RON JONES and TONY BAIRD*

The National Women's Hospital will have its name changed by decree of the Auckland District Health Board against the wishes of staff and patients and contrary to previous agreement.

The retraction by the board of the edict to eliminate the Starship name should now extend to the National Women's and Green Lane Hospitals.

Starship has existed for a decade, the National Women's and Green Lane Hospitals for more than half a century. Both have not only national but international reputations.

Imagine the Mayo Clinic being renamed the Rochester City Hospital; Guys, St Bartholomews and St Thomas's as the City of London Hospitals.

The Queen Charlotte's Maternity Hospital in London, which has the same national identity as the National Women's Hospital, has lately closed and been integrated into the Hammersmith Hospital, but has retained its name and identity.

In all major cities in Australia the women's hospitals have retained their individual names after integration into general hospitals.

What does the National Women's Hospital have in common with other internationally recognised and named hospitals? All these hospitals provide local medical services, but in addition play national roles as clinical reference centres and provide high-quality teaching and research.

These hospitals are recognised as centres of excellence. Centres of excellence do not just happen. They arise because individuals with talent, initiative, imagination and competitive drive create hospitals that are recognised by external peers for the quality of their medical care, teaching and research. The National Women's Hospital is such a hospital.

We appreciate that the chairman of Auckland District Health Board has to control the finances, but this objective will not be achieved by the removal of the national role and image of the National Women's Hospital (and the creation of a cheaper local city hospital).

To achieve his objective, he needs to dumb down services to provide cheaper options.

The board is woefully out of touch with the way hospitals and their staffs function, their sense of history and the loyalty they generate. Patients will always opt for a hospital with an established reputation for excellence. Staff will be attracted to hospitals with national names and reputations.

Would an overseas job applicant be attracted to a position at the National Women's Hospital or the Auckland City Hospital Women's Health Services (what a mouthful)?

It is worthwhile considering the comments of Gerald Wakeley, a former Auckland Hospital Board administrator, who in 1963, commenting on the development of the National Women's Hospital, said: "And when it comes to be replaced [that is, 2003], we who see its beginning and know its story so far can wish that our successors will spare a thought for those who made it."

Sadly, Wayne Brown has ignored the advice of his administrator forebear.

Why should National Women's retain its national name and identity? The concept of a national teaching hospital was made a reality during the 1940s by Dr Doris Gordon and other national figures in medicine and politics, including leading members of the National Council of Women.

The hospital, from the time of its inception, has played a vital role in obstetrics and gynaecology, post-graduate teaching and research that has benefited mothers, babies and doctors throughout the country.

The first intrauterine transfusion for Rhesus disease in the world was performed by Dr (later Professor Sir) William Liley in 1963, giving international recognition to the hospital at its inception.

Professor Sir Mont Liggins and colleagues have extended the national and international reputation of the hospital with pioneering work on premature labour and its management.

Professor Denis Bonham raised the standard of maternity care in New Zealand through his interest in perinatal epidemiology.

The hospital has recognised its shortcomings in the unfortunate experiment into cervical abnormalities and learned from it.

Unlike many modern market-oriented hospitals and clinics, National Women's Hospital is not seen as a commercial brand but as a name that evokes national excellence in patient care, teaching and research.

The hospital has served the nation well for more than half a century and the staff continue to be heavily involved in research and teaching.

National Women's offers both more and less than the proposal for Auckland City Hospital Women's Health Services. Women need the community health services that are provided now in Auckland and Green Lane Hospitals, just as men and children do.

There will be confusion with the title Women's Health Services unless it is carefully defined. At the National Women's Hospital people know that the services cover maternity, newborn babies and women with gynaecological conditions such as infertility, menstrual disorders and tumours both benign and cancerous.

The move of acute services to Grafton from Epsom offers advantages for such women and babies through the proximity to other services. A high quality of care will be assured only if the identity of National Women's is retained to build on the expertise that exists.

Almost two-thirds of the women attending for cancer care, and more than half of the women attending certain pre-cancer clinics in the National Women's Hospital, live outside the Auckland City Hospital area. National Women's will never be just a local city hospital.

Mr Brown and his board will soon be forgotten, but the name and reputation of the National Women's Hospital is part of the fabric of the nation's history. To remove the name is petty, destructive and expensive. It is to be hoped that good sense will see its retention.

*Drs Ron Jones and Tony Baird are long-serving gynaecologists at National Women's.

* Starship is not the only name changing following the amalgamation of Auckland's hospitals. Internationally recognised Green Lane Hospital and National Women's Hospital will also lose their names in the merger. What do you think? Email the Herald News Desk with your views.