NURSES FOR SEACLIFF

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25386, 18 November 1943, Page 4

NURSES FOR SEACLIFF

MAN-POWER DIRECTIONS APPEALS TO COMMITTEE ! * "> Appeals by a number of women against direction by the man-power officer to employment at the Seacliff Mental Hospital as probationer nurses were heard yesterday at a sitting of the Industrial Man-power Appeal Committee—Messrs M. W. Grantham (chairman), H. H. Gillard, and S. D. Macpherson. , ', . “We regard this work as being of the utmost importance” said. Mr J. H. Flowers, district man-power - officer. “The staff at Seacliff is at‘present short of 38 nurses and 4 domestics. We interviewed about 200 girls in the hope of obtaining volunteers, but the response was so poor that we were forced to resort to direction. “In Wellington, where there is a large mental hospital,” Mr Flowers continued, “50 nurses were required, and 30 of these were obtained from volunteers. The other 20 were directed to the work by the man-power officer, and so far no applications for release from this employment have been received. This indicates that-the work is not unpleasant in any way. The present shortage of staff at Seacliff is throwing a heavy burden on the nurses at present there. Their health is suffering, and they must have relief.” Conditions Criticised McKenzies. Ltd., for whom Mr G. T. Baylee appeared, appealed against the direction of Kathleen M. Fennessy to employment as a probationer nurse at Seacliff. Miss Fennessy also appealed on her own behalf. ~ _ , , “ The committee should think seriously before sending this or any other girl to work at Seacliff,” said Mr Baylee. “ Notwithstanding the fact that the place has been condemned, the Government has recognised that the conditions in which the nurses have to work are so bad that additional kitchens, etc., are being built for them. The acknowledged state of affairs at Seacliff is the reason why no volunteers were forthcoming here, whereas two-thirds of the number required in Wellington were volunteers.’ *Miss Fennessy was the only. employee for which the firm had appealed, and at present no trained girl was available to ta“ke her place. The chairman: I realise the Inconvenience to the various firms that the possible loss of these girls may cause, but nurses have to be found. It would be to the everlasting shame of the womanhoed of this country if people, sick in mind as are the patients at Seacliff, were left uncared for. . ■ _ Mr C. M. Sloan, chief clerk at the Seacliff Hospital, gave evidence regarding the hours worked by the nurses. In normal conditions, he said, they worked on two days andj then had one off duty, thus having 10 days off in a month. Recently, however, owing to shortage of staff, nurses had been working overtime up to four days of the 10 which they were entitled to have off, and had been working an average of 10 hours 20 minutes a day. In reply to questions by Mr Baylee, witness said that the work of building the new kitchens had been put in hand just before the recent statements by the Rev. J. C. Chisholm concerning the administration at Seacliff. The conditions of work had been reviewed, and in the light of modern standards had been found to be not wholly satisfactory. Improvements were now in train. At a later stage witness said that there was.a shortage of 23 male attendants and four other male employees at the institution. The appeals were disallowed. _ Other Appeals The appeal of the City Dye Works against the direction of Mary Josephine Wallace to employment as a probationer nurse at Seacliff was adjourned. Further appeals against direction to Seacliff were dealt with as follows:—H. Carr (Mr A. C. Stephens) for Jean Amy Carr, appeal disallowed; the Otago Building and Investment Society for Sylvia Agnes Calder, appeal allowed; ’ Mrs I. C. Cuthbert for Alice I. Collins, who also appealed, appeals allowed; C. F. Adam for Agnes Isabel Peterson, who also appealed, decision reserved; B. W. Brooks (Mr I. L. Turnbull) for Kathleen W. Ryan, who also appealed, decision reserved. Decisjon was reserved in an appeal by William T. Granger against refusal of permission to terminate his employment at the Seacliff Mental Hospital. Reserved Decision In a reserved decision the committee decided to allow the appeal of L. B. Borrow, of Mosgiel, against the direction of an employee, Miss E. Murray, to employment with the Mosgiel Woollen Mills. : "