ST. HELENS HOSPITALS

Evening Post, Volume CX, Issue 10, 11 July 1930, Page 8

ST. HELENS HOSPITALS

ADMISSION OF MEDICAL STUDENTS j (To the Editor.) Sir, —Referring to the controversy now proceeding , regarding' the question of admissions of medical students into St. Helens Hospitals, may I give a short epitome of the statute law regarding St. Helens Hospitals? Provision for the registration of midwives was first made by the Midwives Act, 1904. Section 5 of this Act provided for the establishment of State Maternity Hospitals for the special purpose of training pupil nurses in midwifery. This Act was repealed in the Midwives Act, '1008 (Consolidation).

The present Act is the Nurses and Midwives Registration Act, 1925. Section 14 of this Act provides for the establishment of State Maternity Hospitals—"l4 (1) In order to make provision for the training of maternity nurses and .midwives tho Minister may from time to time establish such number of State maternity hospitals us ho_ thinks fit; and may make provision therein for registration as . maternity ■ nurses or as midwives."

Section 29 provides for regulations for inter alia: "(C) Providing for the conduct of maternity hospitals established under this Act, and for tho training therein of persons who -intend to qualify as maternity nurses or midwives."

Regulations under the Act gazetted on 38th June, 1928, New Zealand Gazette, page 2087, provide: (1) That the matron shall deliver lectures to and teach and train the trainees..

I can find no statute or regulation admitting medical students to St. Helens Hospitals, and therefore it is a breach of the law. But I am informed by the Health Department that an arrangement had been made in 1918 with the Medical School, Dunedin (War Measure) to admit medical students into St. Helens Hospitals. This does not come within the scope of the Statute, and is in contradiction to the Founder of St. Hplens Hospitals' most emphatic platform—that medical students were not to be admitted. "My desire is that these homes will be available to all whose meajis will not permit of private, comfort, and skilled attendance. My earnest hope is that this humanity may give (ho. child a better chance of life and the mother a lighter burden to bear."

In order to stress the essential principle underlying the inception of the St. Helens Hospitals in the various, centres of the Dominion, namely that these institutions were not to be used as a train-1 ing ground for medical students, but as sanctuaries for the wives of men of moderate means at the time of motherhood, and also for the training of midwives, I quote the following extracts from the public utterances of the late Dr. Batchelor, and also'of my father, R. J. Seddon: "The New Maternity Hospital-, Dunedin. Address by Dr. Batchelor (2nd May, 10.05):— Dr. Batchelor thanked the Mayor for his kind remarks concerning him. . ..There were many people he had to thank, but first and foremost among them was that eminent statesman, the late Right Hon. Richard Seddon. Tt was owing to his strenuous support that he (the speaker) had'finally decided to make the big effort. Mr. Seddon lias also the St. Helens Maternity Hospital, which, however, was designed to supply the wants of a different class to this, namely, the wives of men of moderate means. It was a new departure and a bold one. It had been an excellent move, and was doing an enormous amount of good, which perhaps would ■do more to perpetuate that great statesman's memory than anything else. Mr. Seddon, when approached on the subject, said he did not consider it his duty to provide in this manner for the indigent, -\yho, he very justly remarked, liad the'Charitable Aid Board and the philanthropic members of the public to look to; but he placed £500 on the estimates towards the scheme, besides lending it invaluable moral and practical support. Mr. Seddon had refused to allow medical students to bo admitted to St. Helens Hospitals as he believed that people" were led by sentiment and not by reason, and that such a course would be damaging to tho institution."

It. J. Seddon: Speech at the Trades and Labour Council ('"Otago Daily Times," 2nd October, 1005):— ... As to the students, there had plainly been some misunderstanding. It was thought that the opportunities . they uow had of pursuing their studies in gynaecology and obstetrics were to be taken away. That was a fallacious assumption. Where the students had opportunities now of observing dostitute eases the opportunity would remain. The maternity homes would not interfere in the slightest with existing opportunities. Medical men would never think of taking a student to the bedside of one of their paying patients, or to a private maternity home. The women who would go to these homes would be of as great delicacy of feeling and as keen susceptibility as any women among the paying patients of the country, and it woxild be out of place for him to agree to the admission of students. It would at once defeat the purposes for which this home was established. With respect to this institution, the medicos must not pVess their 'claims. The doctors had talked of fighting them. It took two to make a quarrel, and though he was sometimes called autocrat and dictator in ;this case, he was not going to make one. But the Charitable Aid Board had a building that was strongly recommended him by Dr. Batchelor. An expenditure ,o£ £200 would thoroughly equip the old refuge as a maternity home. He was prepared to ask Parliament for a special grant for that purpose. That would provide for the needs ot another class of women, it would make proper provision for students, and^it would generally be money weir spent."

. "It must not be. . . « I There is no power in Venice | Can alter a decree established: 'Twill be recorded as a precedent; And many an error, by the same example, Will rush in to the stace; it cannot be. —I am, etc., MARY STUART HAY.