Fifty years ago Taupō’s new 25-bed hospital was opened before 500 people by then Minister of Works Percy Allen.

Allen, speaking at the ceremony on Saturday, September 25, 1971, dubbed it a “significant step forward” in the town’s progress.

“A hospital, perhaps more than any other, is a town’s essential service,” he was noted as saying in the lead article of the following Tuesday’s Taupō Times which also carried a spread of photos.

In today’s dollars the $750,000 price tag would be about halfway between the median listing price for houses in Taupō of $599,000 and the average house price nationally – $920,000.

While the new hospital was primarily of vital interest to locals, Allen said, it was also interesting to consider it as part of the larger picture of development of medical services in the district.

Though that was not always smooth sailing – a sidebar story covered a six-month agreement reached between local doctors, Waikato Hospital Board members and health department officials.

The doctors had refused to apply for part-time positions at the hospital unless they received a fee for service as opposed to standard block payment.

All Taupō general practitioners would have the right to treat patients at the hospital during the six-month trial and a spokesman for the doctors said there was a recognition to investigate how doctors who worked for hospitals part-time would be paid.

On October 21 this year the Lakes District Health Board is planning to celebrate the hospital’s 50th birthday with an afternoon tea. Barbara Adam of Lakes DHB said she was keen to hear from anyone who worked at Taupō Hospital in its early years, or received services there.

That initial ward served as a surgical, medical and geriatric unit, with the first patient admitted in November 1971, said Adam.

Another ward was added five years later, at which time the first ward became the surgical ward, with ward two becoming the medical ward.

“In those days Taupō general practitioners provided the anaesthetic needs of the hospital, working on a roster system for surgery sessions and emergency conditions,” Adam said.

Those with stories to contribute to the celebrations should contact her at Lakes DHB.

Credit: Stuff.co.nz