MATERNITY NURSES

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 12, 14 July 1939, Page 11

MATERNITY NURSES

TRAINING QUESTION

MINISTER REPLIES TO DOCTOR

Commenting on remarks made recently by Dr. Henry Jellett, of Christ^ church, about the effect of maternity benefits on the training of midwives and maternity nurses, the Minister of Health (the Hon. P. Frasei*) last night expressed regret that so well-known an authority should have failed to acquaint himself with the actual facts before publishing his views. Dr. Jellett- said that by opening the obstetrical teaching hospitals of the country to all women and to any doctor the Government was rendering the Dominion a grave disservice.

"That maternity benefits have been made available at the St. Helens Hos pitals and at other maternity hospitals recognised as training schools does not mean that those hospitals have been 'opened to any doctor,'" Mr. Fraser said.

"In the four St. Helens Hospitals, which are the only training schools for midwives, the same medical staff are engaged as heretofore, and for the very reasons that Dr. Jellett gives, namely, the necessity for ensuring that not only shall the attention to the patients in these hospitals be the best procurable, but also that the staff shall have experience in clinical teaching. The patients cannot, therefore, arrange to be attended in these hospitals by other than the. staff of specialists engaged by the Government for this I work. ... :

MEDICAL. -'STAFFING,;

"Similarly, the medical staffing of hospital board hospitals recognised as training schools for maternity nurses is in no way affected by the operation of maternity benefits.' 3

; The Minister said the position of training schools was fully considered when the provisions of the Act relating to maternity benefits were being drafted. It was for this reason chiefly that a proviso was inserted in section 95 (2) of the. Act to the effect that a woman's right to select the medical practitioner b^ whom she was to be attended was, in the case of patients confined in a hospital, subject to the concurrence of the hospital authox-ities.

"The importance of safeguarding th; standard of training of midwives and maternity nurses has not for a moment been lost sight of, and any suggestion by Dr. Jellett that the Government has not fully consulted departmental advisers on this or other aspects of the scheme is quite without foundation," VTr. Fraser declared.