HOSPITAL STAFFS

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 21899, 18 December 1945, Page 2

HOSPITAL STAFFS

RECRUITMENT PROBLEM

ESSENTIALLITY REMOVAL

BOARD TO TAKE STEPS

The recruitment of hospital staffs was the subject of a letter from the Director-General of Health, received at the meeting of the Cook Hospital Board yesterday.

The letter explained that as the termination of the essentiality of industries would be brought about by the end of February the position with regard to .the staffing of nurses at hospitals was likely to become very difficult next year.

Numerous suggestions for possible consideration for the improvement of existing conditions for nurses were outlined in the letter. Adjustments and alterations to the present conditions to make the profession more attractive .to the young girls included improvements in working conditions, uniform, living arrangements, and general betterment of the nursing life as a whole.

Many Distinct Improvements

Many of the suggested changes were a distinct improvement on existing conditions.

An important factor recommended to .the board, in common with other boards, was an increase in the rates of pay and allowances.

After a short discussion members agreed that the suggestions were very sound and would present a more promising future for nui-oes. Mrs. E. R Scott said that the suggestions, if put into operation, should attract girls to the profession and so overcome the difficult position which would arise in regard to staffing. The position of meal conditions was raised by Mr. G. D. Muirhead. Mr. H. H Barker stated that there could be no doubt that a. difficult position would arise with the cessation of the man-power controls and this position would have to be met.

Comparison With Other Vacations He instanced the present rates of for a fourth-year nurse, which, he said, were £lls a year, plus £SO livingin allowance, and in cases of nurses living out, £IOO, under the hew system. The minimum wages for girls in other professions next year, Mr. Barker said, would be £3 3s per week, or £163 per year. The board had to compete with better-paid jobs and it was not going to get girls unless the remuneration for their work was at least equal to other professions. The chairman, Mr. M. T. Trafford, thought that these remarks were not altogether correct. It was not quite fair, he said, to say that nurses did not receive reasonable rates of pay. They were paid a' greater living-out allowance, or, alternatively living-in allowance, which had to be considered. Opportunities For Promotion “We want to see that they get paid adequately and equally as well as women in other employment, declared Mrs. Scott. She pointed out that a junior sister received £2lO, plus the usual living-out allowance, and this compared favourably with other forms of women’s employment. Nurses were learning a profession, in which they could rise to very good and responsible positions, which carried with them higher salaries than in most other work a woman might choose. It was hardly fair, Mrs. Scott claimed, to compare nursing with other women's callings as the former held more opportunities than many other vocations. A woman or girl learning nursing these days was opening the door to a very respected and highlytrained career, and as the individual persevered and climbed higher very suitable remuneration was offering.

The board agreed that the principles of the detailed suggestions were sound and, no doubt, would be adopted by the board when the position arose for the necessary steps to be taken.