RECRUITING OF NURSES

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27308, 26 March 1954, Page 12

RECRUITING OF NURSES

TALK OF SHORTAGE DEPLORED

(New Zealand Press Association) GISBORNE, March 25. “I am disturbed at the continual reference to a shortage of nurses. It does far more harm than good to our recruitment programmes and in ’many parts is exaggerated. We are short in some instances, perhaps, but so are other walks of life, but why this continual reference to a dire shortage of nurses?” This was said by the director of the nursing division of the Health Department (Miss F. J. Cameron) at the Cook Hospital graduation ceremony last night. “At Cook Hospital,” she continued, “I believe that you have a registered-to-untrained-nurses ratio of one to two, and a nurse-to-patient ratio of one to 1.6. Many hospitals in other parts of New Zealand —and overseas —have a nurse-to-patient ratio of one to four.

“In Brazil, the 87,000,000 population has fewer than 7000 nurses. New Zealand, with a population of about 2,000,000, has 10,000 registered nurses.” She claimed that nursing received more recruits than any other profession in New Zealand. “I have checked with the Labour and Employment Department,” she said, “and it is true. After that, we cannot, really complain about being so desperately short of nurses.”