Position of Nurses in England

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume XII, Issue 1, 1 January 1919, Page 24

Position of Nurses in England

While undoubtedly nurses of the highest standing and position take their proper place in society and arc acknowledged to be above patronage and charity, there is, we fear, no doubt that the position of the nurse in a general way is not in the Home Country by any means equal to that she holds in the Colonies. This is noticed by the nurses from the Colonies who have been serving during the war. The controversy now going on between the supporters of the three rival bodies, the Royal British Nurses' Association and the Society for the State Registration of Trained Nurses on the one side and the College of Nursing, Ltd., on the other, very plainly shows that there is a very large and influential social party which desires to keep nurses in a subordinate position and to treat them as objects of charity and patronage rather than to allow them such reasonable pay for their services as would enable them to maintain themselves properly in the present and provide for the future when they can no longer work. Many nurses who uphold the dignity of their profession and of themselves as independent women are very sore indeed at the efforts of some well-meaning but mistaken friends who are helping to raise funds for what is known as the " Nation's Fund for Nurses." They object to the widespread advertising for this fund which has been used in appealing for funds which the nurses consider are more needed for the sick and wounded than for themselves. While there is no objection to such a fund properly raised and without public appeal, it is felt that the means taken to push it are not worthy either of the nurses, who have done such splendid work during the war, nor of the profession in general. The last straw

has been the project for a " victory ball ' : in aid of the Nurses' Fund, which was being organised by the British Women's Hospital Committee.

We agree with those who protest against it that this is not the time for such an evidence of rejoicing, and sympathise with the nurses' objection to being used for such a purpose as put by a writer in the British Journal of Nursing, November 23 : —

" Surely the dominant thought in the mind of all true patriots in this connection is that this large measure of victory has been won for us by the incomparable valour of our sailors and soldiers — wounded and otherwise — and above all by the ' great sacrifice ' of those unconquerable souls who fell in their tens of thousands on the battlefield. Was there ever such a strange way of celebrating their passing ?

"If people like to dance on such an occasion they are, I suppose, at liberty to do so ; but they are not at liberty to do so in the name of and much against the wishes of patriotic nurses (some 400 of whom have also made the great sacrifice). It is an act of sacrilege towards the dead, and an insult to the great profession of nursing. This was the substance of my conversation with a lady, who could not see my point of view. We are certainly entitled to rejoice, but our hearts are full, and we incline more towards the giving of unbounded thanks to the ' only Giver of all victory,' for the conquest of an evil power in the world. — Reverence for the Dead."

Let us hope that the nurses may succeed in their protest against such desecration. In the defeat of Major Chappie in the recent elections the nurses have lost an ardent champion in their fight for State registration, the gaining of which should much improve their position.