Expanded role for nurses forecast

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33512, 18 April 1974, Page 10

Expanded role for nurses forecast

The need to broaden nursing education to enable nurses to cone with an expanded role was stressed by the DirectorGeneral of Health (Dr H. J. H. Hiddlestone) when he opened the national conference of the New Zealand Nurses’ Association in Christchurch last evening. “The. future clearly points to an expanded clinical role for New Zealand nurses in all aspects of our health services.” said Dr Hiddlestone. “To meet this expanded role nursing education must be realistically broadened and deepened.”

He said that education was a ‘‘fundamental and continuing necessity” yet education by itself would effect no miracle of transformation. To be effective, services required efficient management.

Dr Hiddlestone said that work being done at Wellington Hospital with the help

of management consultants had already achieved two re suits. There had been a substantial improvement in the communication between nurses and other members of health services. Nurses were also looking more objectively at the. work they were doing and the cost involved

Although the work at Wellington Hospital w'as primarily a management exercise in a clinical area, such work must be expanded tn other hospital boards and health agencies with the appropriate variations, said IDr Hiddlestone. The Government intended issuing a White Paper on health services about August this year, said Dr Hiddlestone It would outline proposals for a new regional health !authority structure. It was likely that there [would be some 14 regions, each serving a population Tanging from 100,000 to 450,000. Each authority would [be responsible for all com Imunity health services—hos pital care, community care medicine and Ihealth education.

They would have greater autonomy and responsibility jthan the present hospital boards and district health offices which worked in rela tive isolation and with natrower scope.