NEED FOR MALE NURSES

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 80, 6 August 1945, Page 5

NEED FOR MALE NURSES

GOVERNMENT SCHEME PROPOSED Wellington, This Day “It is interesting to note that the Government believes t"ere is consideri able scope for the employment of male | nurses, and proposes to introduce a scheme for training and registration,” j said Mr J. Turnbull, secretary of the J Public Service Association, to-day. "Thp Government anticipates that the provision oi means whereby registraI tion and consequent status can be ob--1 tained will be a considerable factor in attracting men to this class of work. “An even more important factor, nowever, will be the wages and scope for advancement offered.” Mr Turnbull said many people might I be unaware tfiat male nurses were already extensively used in the Mental Hospitals Department, They were required to pass two examinations and might thus qualify for registration as psychiatric nurses. This fact, however, had been quite inadequate to offset the adverse effect on recruitment of low wages, and the situation was new so desperate that the Government considered it necessary to direct paroled military defaulters to fill the gaps in this most essential service.

"The surest means of attracting men to general or psychiatric nursing,” said Mr Turnbull, “is the provision of an adequate salary scale, without which no system of training or registration will be effective in attracting and holding the type of men required.”