HOSPITAL NURSES’ SALARIES

Dominion, Volume 39, Issue 27, 26 October 1945, Page 6

HOSPITAL NURSES’ SALARIES

“Totally Inadequate,” Says Board ASKS PERMISSION TO INCREASE Describing salaries paid to the nursing profession as “totally inadequate/ the Wellington Hospital Board last night decided to urge the Government to permit revision of the whole salary .scale, “so that justice will be done to this fine bodv of women.” The remuneration of nurses, compared with that of people in other occupations, was .“perfectly ridiculous,” said Dr. R. Welton-Hogg. It was comparable only with that of domestic servants. Another section of the community received about £lO a week for handling a sling of cargo every 20 minutes, stopping for every show’er of rain. Mr. A. P. O’Shea: That’s very near subversion, you know! , Continuing, Dr. Welton-Hogg said it might be suggested that nurses were receiving training for their profession, but when they were finished there were no rich rewards for them in private practice. Many gave up their lives to the work without hope of proper remuneration. No girl would go in for nursing unless she felt she had a call for it. The chairman, Mr. H. F. Toogood, said that the board httd already asked for permission to increase, the salaries of nurses living in by £l5 a year and those of nurses living out by £3O a year, but indications were that the request would not be granted. It seemed like beatingthe air to ask for any more than had already been asked for. “We .are willing and anxious to see salaries increased, but meantime it is impossible to do .anything but what the wages commissioner will agree to,” he said. He added that it was sometimes overlooked that the usual nurse's salary was for “living-in. If the nurse lived out it was increased by . -x xi x Those sections pf'the community that were not heavily organized and could not bring pressure to bear were at a tremendous disadvantage, said Mr. A. P. O’Shea. He added that the problem was tied up with the economic condition of the whole country, and was largely due to the printing of an enormous amount of money before the war. “Unless the board is prepared to meet outside competition and give comparable wages and conditions, not only for nurses but for domestics aud other workers, it wiij always b e short-staffed,” said Mr. v. M. Simpson. Under the Governments new scheme domestic helps, without-a nurse’s training .were to be. paid £4/10/- or £4/10/a week, said Miss Cable. . ' The chairman said he believed the Minister of Health had already referred to the question of increasing nurses remuneration. Dr. Welton-Hogg moved the motion that was finally carried. “We want nurses,” he said. “Well, for goodness sake let us pay them a living wage.’ They don’t get a living wage now. Earlier the board had decided to undertake an intensive campaign to secure nursing trainees. Special appeals will be made from November 15 to Decemoer 15 this year, and from January 15 to February 15 next year. A sum of £uuV is to be spent on the campaign. ■ The chairman said that, on his recent visit to Australia, he had, seen more than one central hospital where wards were closed because of the shortage ot nurses. That had not happened in Wellington, but since VJ-day 130 nurses had been lost through the release-of married women and other causes.. During that period the hospital ' services had coped splendidly with the task of caring for former prisoners of the Japanese. “We cannot compete in wages, so we must go out and -anneal to people to take up nrsing, largely as a labour ot love, said Mr. O’Shea. . . , Later, the chairman, referring to the shortage of labour generally, expressed -the opinion that it would be practically impossible for the board to secure staff on a voluntary basis so long as manpower direction continued. The two did not work .-together.