44-HOUR WEEK

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVI, Issue 258, 29 September 1936, Page 7

44-HOUR WEEK

| HOSPITAL BOARD DECISION. I COST OF £SOOO. EXTRA STAFF AND FACILITIES. The Palmerston North Hospital Board held a special meeting yesterday to consider a report from tiio managing secretary on the hours ot all staff under the control or the board. Those in attendance were:— Messrs J. K .Hornblow (chairman), J. Boyce, G. P. Catley, D. Colhs, T Green, W. Howell, L. T. McLean, A. E. Mansford, G. A. Monk, M. A. Moody, J. A. Nash, and \ . E. Smith. Leave of absence was granted to Mrs M. Aitchisou and Mr J. Hodgens, M.P. The meeting was not open to the Press and tiie following statement has been issued by the board : - “After consideration, it was decided to have a 44-hour week introduced into the board’s institutions at as early a date as possible, and the necessary authority was given to proceed in this matter. To bring this about it is necessary for a large increase in staff to take place, but the board feels that its employees should be given as near as practicable similar conditions ns regards hours as employees in other sections of the community. The introduction of such a reform as this can, of course, proceed only over a period. v SIXTEEN MORE NURSES. “As regards the nursing and domestic staff, especially at the Palmerston North Hospital, extra accommodation has to be provided for the resident staff, and until substantial additions to tho Nurses’ Home which the board has already decided upon are completed, it will not be possible to ensure that nursing staff hours are reduced to 44. The .quarters recently occupied bv the house surgeons are to be used as nurses’ quarters ns soon as the house surgeons move into their new quarters over the Administration Block. It is proposed immediately to take steps to appoint sixteen additional nurses to the staff at tlie Palmerston North Hospital. “As regards the domestic staff an •ndeavour is being made to carry on with a number of the domestic staff living out. The domestic staff will be increased on the male side by four and on the female side by three. “Apart from the Palmerston North Hospital, additions to staff are necessary at the other institutions under the control of the board, and including all oranehes a total of 37 additional staff will be engaged. “Where it is not practicable to reduce hours—more particularly for staff employed on the board’s farms and the ambulance drivers—the annual leave period is to bo increased as a recompense for longer hours. CAPITAL EXPENDITURE. “The immediate cost will be in the vicinity of £SOOO per annum for wages, and in addition to this further capital expenditure will be necessary in the immediate future in providing additional furnishings for staff quarters. It will also be necessary in the proposed new ' building schenie to provide for a greater number of staff bedrooms than was previously contemplated.”