COMPLEX PROBLEM

Wairarapa Daily Times, 21 October 1937, Page 10

COMPLEX PROBLEM

SHORTAGE OF NURSES. AT AIASTERTON HOSPITAL. With a £50,000 building programme for the provision of increased patient's’ accommodation and an elaborate new nurses’ home at the Alasterton Hospital, Well under way, the Wairarapa Hospital Board is now faced with the complex problem of securing sufficient nurses to staff the institution. Alembers took a serious view of the matter at yesterday’s meeting of the board when the Alatron reported that the position was acute and that she was faced with the alternative of stopping days off for nurses or else postponing annual leave.

It was stated that the position was not peculiar to the Wairarapa, but was general throughout New Zealand. There was a serious shortage of probationer nurses, the profession apparently not attracting girls as it did in the past. Trained nurses wrnre also very difficult to secure and two recent advertisements for a maternity sister and a staff nurse for Alasterton and Pahiatua did not elicit a single reply. With fewer nurses training, the position with regard to sisters and trained nurses will, it was stated, become extremely serious in the near future. As an extra inducement to girls to enter the nursing profession, the Alatron of the Alasterton Hospital recommended that the salaries of probationer nurses be increased from £4O, £SO and £6O, to £SO, £6O and £7O per annum. The chairman, Air. H. H. Alawley, and a majority of other members, while recognising the seriousness of the shortage, did not consider that a higher rate of pay would solve the problem. The recommendations were not adopted. Later in the meeting the chairman stated that if the position became more acute the board might be faced with the possibility of closing down a ward.

Mr. Alawley said he recognised that difficulty was experienced in securing the services of trained sisters and untrained nurses. The salaries paid by the board were, however, as high as those paid by any other training hospital in New Zealand. He did not believe in one board competing with another in the matter of salaries and considered that any increases necessary should be on a uniform scale agreed to by all hospital boards. He suggested that in the meantime the board should not agree to increase the salaries of probationers. He favoured more uniformity in salary rates and thought that if increases were necessary to attract more hospital trainees such increases should be made by all the boards concerned. No board should try to outbid another. He agreed ther<? would be difficulty in getting trained nurses, many of whom had gone to England and Australia. The board could carry on in the meantime and he saw no reason to anticipate future difficulties.

Applications were recently called for the position of second sister in the maternity ward at the Alasterton Hospital, observed the Alanaging-Secretary (Air. Norman Lee) but not a single reply was received. No applications were received in reply to a recent advertisement for a staff nurse at the Pahiatua Hospital. “The position is getting serious,” remarked Air. Mawley, “but we cannot create sisters if they are not in the country. I understand that the Christchurch Hospital was in the position of having to close down a ward because of a shortage of trained nurses.”

Miss C. McKenny said the position was the same all over New Zealand. In her experience the amount of salary paid to probationers and nurses did not matter a great deal and she did not think that a few extra pounds would relieve the position to any marked extent. Air. Alawley: “Other walks of life are getting more attractive. The 40hour week has a bearing on the position. We cannot do much on our own, however. We must have concerted action.” Air. J. C. Ewington said he thought they should support the Alatron in her recommendations. He agreed with the chairman regarding the desirability of concerted action, but thought difficulty would be experienced in securing it. The difficulty of getting sisters was obvious and if they gave a £lO rise to the probationers it would be, under the circumstances, the right and proper thing to do. He moved that the increases recommended be granted.

After medical attention it was very essential to have expert nursing treatment in a hospital, observed Mr. J. F. Thompson who thought £4O a year was a poor salary for probationer nurses. Aliss AlcKenny had expressed the idealist point of view, but he would remind members that they were living in a materialistic age. The girls were training for a profession and should be paid the same as teachers. The training was not the same as that undertaken by ordinary girls. He thought the time was long overdue for an increase in the salaries paid to probationers. He seconded the motion.

Mr. P, R. Welch described the motion as a step in the right direction. It was essential to make the job more attractive. If the board did not overhaul the salaries of probationers they would find it difficult to carry on. At the same time, he would like to see the increases made general and so obviate the position of one hospital competing against another. Mr. W. I. Armstrong thought it would be all right to.review the salaries of trained nurses, but the probationers were being trained for a profession. In the circumstances, he considered £4O a year adequate payment. Mr. Thompson: “An apprentice to an ordinary trade receives more than that.”

It was the wrong time of the year to effect any changes in salary rates, was thp opinion, of Mr. F. W. Parry. There should be a recognised salary scale for all hospitals and one institution should not compete against another.

Mr. Mawley: “The Grey Hospital is the only institution that pays higher rates tlian this board does for probationers, but it is not a training hospital.”

Dr. G. S. Sharp said he was against isolated action and thought a remit, recommending an increased rate of pay for probationers, should be forwarded to the next conference of the Hospital Boards’ Association.

Mr. Thompson: “It is a biennial conference and will not meet for another 18 months.”

Mr. Lee pointed out that at the pres

ent time the salaries of nurses and probationers were practically uniform throughout New Zealand. After some further brief discussion the motion was defeated by a large majority. It was also decided to circularise other hospital boards regarding the shortage of trainee nurses, Air. Alawley stating that it looked as though it would become a serious question. It was no use leaving it to the eleventh hour. ‘ ‘ The position is acute, ’ ’ observed the Alatron in .a statement t’o the board later in the meeting, “and by November it will be four times worse. When we have sick nurses, and we are rarely without them, I cannot staff the hospital. Am I to stop days’ off or to postpone holidays?” Air. Alawley: “It would probably be better to postpone holidays.” The Alatron: “Even by doing that you will only have two more nurses available. Postponing holidays unsettles the staff considerably and they are inclined to be unsettled now.”

Air. Alawley: “We cannot be expected to perform miracles and make girls enter the nursing profession. If the position becomes really acute we will have no alternative but to close down a ward. Before doing that, however, we would place the full facts before the Health Department—not that the Department can create nurses out of nothing.” A member: “If we cannot get nurses we will have to dispense with some of the patients.” It was decided to advertise for two sisters and two staff nurses..

The Alatron was given a free hand to stop days off or postpone the leave of nurses in the meantime.