NOISE PROBLEMS IN HOSPITAL

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28748, 20 November 1958, Page 20

NOISE PROBLEMS IN HOSPITAL

Report Prepared In Britain (Special Correspondent N.Z.P.A.) (Rec. 8 p.m.) LONDON, November 17. Stainless steel or enamel ware which has to be sterilised may be replaced by plastic ware in future in English hospitals to help reduce the noise. The problem of noise in 15 hospitals has been subject of a report. The noises were various: but they were not all within hospitals. They were made by cats, jackdaws, tugs on a river and even.’ in one case, a rifle range. The report says that some patients were evidently unconscious of, or indifferent to, noises which exasperated and fatigued. The others were perhaps a minority; but this minority deserved all the help and relief that good hospital administration could provide.

Most of the noises which disturbed patients arose within the wards and could be stopped at the source without great difficulty and with little expense.

Movable screens, bed curtains and noisy runners, banging doors and badly adjusted door springs figured largely. Some authorities, by careful maintenance, routine, and alterations to equipment, had been able almost entirely to remove these sources of noise. “In most instances the expense was small, or only involved the purchase of such things as polythene basins and rubber-topped dustbins,” the report said.

Some patients were disturbed by noise made by other patients—noise either due to illness or consisting simply of snores. Side wards or a partitioned section seemed to be the most favoured solution to this perennial problem.