NURSING SERVICE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23080, 4 July 1938, Page 10

NURSING SERVICE

New regulations governing the working hours of nurses in private hospitals, which become operative on September 1, create difficulties that will not easily be overcome without some reduction in the services to the sick these institutions normally perform. Such a reduction would cause an overflow which could not all be diverted into public hospitals, many of these being overtaxed already. The situation which is developing, and which might carry serious consequences, should be faced at once. From Invercargill, for instance, it is reported this morning that maternity services may be jeopardised. Auckland private hospitals also find themselves faced with many problems for which they have yet to discover solutions. Even if they manage to comply with the new regulations, they expect to have to raise fees by from 15s to 21s weekly. That is bad enough for those who are often haunted by the thought of the expense they must incur for treatment but, even so, the bills might somehow be met. The intractable factor is that there do not appear to be enough nurses to staff the hospitals under the new scale of hours. The scale does not seem unreasonable in itself, requiring that nurses shall not exceed 48 hours weekly, including meal hours, averaged over a period of eight No one would grudge this improvement in conditions for a class of devoted workers, if it could be arranged without sacrificing the sick. Perhaps people have been too ready in the past to make drafts on the fortitude and compassion of the nurses. "Yet the latter would probably agree that the sick must be served first. If so, then the nurses should not be allowed to carry on longer than is absolutely necessary. The case of the private hospitals does suggest, however, that in framing official regulations, more heed should be paid to the practical effects. What is desirable has often to Rive way to what is possible. It is unfortunate that the illustration should have been provided by nursing conditions, which even now do not compare favourably with those of many other vocations, but the case makes it clear that certain practical limits are set on social advances.