PATIENTS OUT OF HOSPITAL

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24882, 23 May 1946, Page 2

PATIENTS OUT OF HOSPITAL

“PRESSING PROBLEM OF ACCOMMODATION”

DOMESTIC HELP SCHEME NEEDED

“Our most pressing problems have again been those of finding accommodation for chronic and convalescent patients, and of supplying domestic help in homes where there is illness. These Have become increasingly difficult problems and have added greatly to the worry of illness, and at the present time it seems unlikely that the position will improve very much in the near future,” says Miss M. Corkill, matron of the Nurse Maude District Nursing Association, in her annual report. “If a satisfactory scheme for domestic help could be found, with sufficient personnel to carry it through, there is no doubt that many patients, who now must be sent to an institution, could be nursed in their own homes. This would relieve hospitals and nursing homes of all but acutely ill cases, and would give the patient the mental relief and comfort of home surroundings. Many organisations in the district are Working on this matter and it is greatly to be hoped that the situation will improve in the near future/’

The number of nursing -visits paid to patients in their homes was 17,724, the visits paid by out-patients numbered 1633, and 5405 calls were received at the rooms.

“The Social Security Regulations regarding district nursing have now been in operation for 18 months, and it is difficult to assess to what extent these have affected our work,” the report continues. “The chief effect was to make the services of our nurses available to all sections of the community, regardless of their financial position, instead of to those only who were in difficult circumstances. For some time there have been far too few private nurses to supply the demand for them, and we are thankful that the association has been enabled to ease the position for those who have urgently needed nursing service, even though the limited time available to our nurses, through pressure of work, may not have been sufficient in some cases to meet fully the need of the patient. “As in the last few years, the aftertreatment of patients leaving the hospital and still requiring nursing care, has been attended to by our staff, while the visiting of patients in the to attend to business or domestic matters for them, investigating home conditions, or finding accommodation in convalescent homes for patients still requiring institution care, have all been matters in which our association has had the privilege of co-operating with the Hospital Board in an effort to ensure the best possible nursing and welfare service to the community.”