TROUBLE IN A HOSPITAL

NZ Truth, Issue 1017, 23 May 1925, Page 5

TROUBLE IN A HOSPITAL

Matron Resigns

Nurses Threaten to Walk Out.

According to the Gisborne Hospital Board, everything m the garden, and m the hospital which they control, is lovely, although the public has been well aware for months past that the whole hospital has been a seething hotbed of discontent. Trouble has been brewing for a, good while past, but the Board has carefully ignored the signs. The culminating point m the trouble was reached a week or more ago, when," m consequence of definite complaints it had received, the Board wrote to the matron asking fpr an explanation of certain happenings. Although the letter was not made public, it is well known what the contents were. It appears that one old lady who. was m the institution for a long period had not been properly looked after, and her' hair became affected. It was stated that her hair had riot been washed or cared for for a long time. When the serious state of affairs was discovered, steps were taken to treat her, and a nurse was instructed to apply ointment regularly every day. This was done, but, m applying the ointment, the patient's neck was burned where portions of the ointment dropped. Another .of ttie charges . laid m the letter to the Matron was that another woman patient who had been bathed m bed had been dried, not with a towel, but with a used sheet from, one of the other beds. As a result of the letter, the Matron resigned, and the Home Sister was appointed to the position of ActingMatron. . No sooner had the Board appointed the Home Sister to act as Matron, until another permanent Matron was appointed, than an ultimatum was received from the nurses stating that the whole of the staff would walk out if the appointment were put into effect. The document, it is said, was signed by every membjer of the nursing staff. It was stated that, had the Board not reconsidered its decision, the whole of the nursing staff would most certainly have carried out their threat. Meanwhile the sister m charge of the ward m which the incidents mentioned m the letter to the Matron are alleged to have occurred resigned, as did also one of the other sisters, so the hospital was handicapped by a shortage of staff.. The Board then retracted its decision with regard to the ActingMatron, and a lady from another town was appointed to the position, pending the appointment of the new Matron. The position has been unsatisfactory m the extreme, and the new Matron. will have a difficult task ahead of her. It is only fair to the Medical Superintendent to add that he has been ill for a considerable time; and that the medical side of the establishment has been m the hands of two house surgeons and a town practitioner. The incidents which occurred, and which led up to the letter to the Matron, happened while the Medical Superintendent was away on sick leave.