HOSPITAL HOURS

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22350, 22 February 1936, Page 14

HOSPITAL HOURS

COMFORT OF PATIENTS DECISION AT GISBORNE DOMESTICS' WAGES REDUCED [by telegraph—OWN correspondent] GISBORNE. Friday A marked • departure from the practice of the past in relation to the hours of meals and the revision of staff duties, with the object of improving the comfort of patients in hospital, was decided upon by the Cook Hospital Board to-day. The alterations in the daily schedule of meals and duties were based upon a successful experiment carried out by the Southland Hospital Board, regarding which the superintendent wrote stating that since November, 1933, no patient has been allowed to ho iiiponged or otherwise disturbed before 6.45 a.m. The night nurses have had breakfast before 6.45 a.m., at which hour they begin taking temperatures and washing faces and hands. The night nurses go off duty at 7 a.m., straight to bed. The morning nurses commence at 6.45 a.m., and have breakfast at S a.m. and 8.30 a.m. The domestics commence duty at 7 a.m. The afternoon nurses commence duty at. 2 p.m., and the morning nurses eo off at 2.30 p.m. This double staff for half an hour gets the wards ready for visitors. The night nurses commence duty at 10.20 p.m. The patients' meal hours are:—7.3o a.m., breakfast; 10 a.m., soup; noon, dinner; 1.45 p.m., cup of tea; 5 p.m., tea; 7 p.m., supper. "1 consider .the change has been of benefit to the patients, but more so to the health of the nurses," stated the superintendent. "It simply means that everything is ready a little later in the morning. I also put out the ward lights at 9 p.m. instead of 8 p.m. This allows the nurses more time to catch up what was lost in the morning, and I consider lights out at 8 p.m. is an infringement of the liberty of the patients. I can assure vou that if you make tho change, after the first week or two tho staff will be unanimously in favour of it." After the reading of the communication the board decided to authorise a chango of the schedule of tho hours in tllie hospital. A proposal to reduce the wages of the domestics employed in the hospital and the nurses' home by 2s" 6d a week" in consideration of the shortening of their hours aroused some discussiion, when a minority of the board offered opposition to the proposed reduction. An effort to defeat the recommendation of the Finance Committee failed, however, and the board will be able to offset to some extent the extra cost of five additional appointments to the domestic staff, estimated at moro than £4OO a year.