NO NURSES TO TRAIN

Taranaki Daily News, 12 September 1934, Page 3

NO NURSES TO TRAIN

PATEA HOSPITAL CANCELLED REGISTRATION BOARD DECISION. PROTESTS BY HOSPITAL BOARD. Cancellation of Palea hospital as a training hospital for pupil nurses was the advice received by the Patea Hospital Board from the Nurses and Midwives’ Registration Board yesterday. The decision is to take effect when the pupil nurses engaged before 1934 have completed their Patea training. This means that those pupil nurses engaged.since the beginning of the year, four in number, will have to abide by a further decision of the Registration Board that they and many other nurses taken on' the staff in the future are to be treated as V.A.D.’s. For them 12 months at Patea will count as only the three months’ probationary period required of all pupil nurses at training hospitals before commencing their three years’ training.

The Hospital Board has objected to the pending cancellation of Patea as a training hospital, and yesterday entered an indignant protest at the treatment. A strong letter of protest will be sent to the Registration Board and letters will also be sent to the Minister of Health, the Hon. J. A. Young, and the member for Patea, Mr. H. G. Dickie. If necessary a deputation will go to Wellington to place the matter before Mr. Young. The question of the training of pupil nurses at the Patea hospital had received further attention, stated the letter to the board. Owing to the lack of case material and the fact that it had been steadily decreasing it was decided to cancel the Patea hospital as a training school for pupil nurses. By regulations gazetted under the Nurses and Midwives’ Registration Act, 1925, the board was required to give a minimum of three months’ notice before the cancellation took effect, but in the case of Patea it was decided that the cancellation should not come into effect until the pupil nurses at present at Patea had completed their training. For that reason a list of pupil nurses was asked for, with the dates of commencement of training. The Director-General of Health (Dr. M. H. Watt) had stated that he was prepared to recommend to the Registration Board that if the Patea hospital were staffed partially by V.A.D.’s that any who remained for 12 months would he permitted to count this period as the three months’ preliminary training required of probationers before they could commence their training as pupil nurses. The Registration Board had agreed to this recommendation, and if the Hospital Board decided to staff partly with V.A.D.’s the course as outlined would be followed.

A further letter from the Registration Board followed the receipt of the names of the four nurses concerned; When the board came to the decision that the cancellation of Patea as a training hospital should not come into force until present pupil nurses had completed their training members had been under the impression that no pupil nurses had been engaged during the present year. The matter had now been referred to Dr. Watt, chairman of the board, and it was decided that the cancellation should date from the time the last trainee engaged in 1933 completed her training. That meant that the, four pupil nurses employed by the board in 1934, Misses H. Hair, E. Gimblett, B. Montgomerie and M. Parsons, must be regarded as coming under the new regulations. Those girls would consequently be required to serve 12 months in order that the time should be counted as the probationary period of three months required of all pupil nurses before commencing their three years’ training. As there would not be a meeting of the Registration Board again until November the decision could not receive confirmation until then.

The Nurses’ Board at the next meeting would be recommended to arrange with the Wanganui hospital for the pupil nurses going to Wanganui in their third year to regain and complete their training there instead of returning to Patea.