Nurses' Pensions

Kai Tiaki : the journal of the nurses of New Zealand, Volume XIII, Issue 4, 1 October 1920, Page 167

Nurses' Pensions

After 35 years' nursing service, 21 of which have been spent as matron of the Camberwell Infirmary, Miss P. E. Marquardt is retiring on the ground of illhealth. She has been granted a pension of £116 per annum. — From "The Nursing Times."

[A generous pension, but no doubt well earned by 35 years of service at the very small salaries paid to nurses m the Old Country. We hope that shortly something may be done of a similar kind for the older matrons and submatrons of long service m New Zealand Hospitals. The following, also from il The Nursing Times/ 7 is a contrast to the above. — Ed.]

Although a Bill is before Parliament which will, if passed, case the hardships of public officials whose pensions are so small that they cannot live decently, the Thetford Guardians propose to award

their matron, after 25 years' Poor Law service, a pension stated by the deputy clerk to amount to about £32 per year! If legally they were unable to do more, one could only criticise them for not trying, but they persist m valuing the matron's emoluments at the absurdly low figure of £35 a year. True, the Guardians are willing to consider emoluments at £50 during the last year of service, but as the pension is based on the average of salary and emoluments during the last five years of employment, this makes an infinitesimal difference. The matron has appealed to the Ministry of Health, which appears to be sympathetic and has asked for detailed information, and we sincerely hope that her action will meet with success. To offer a matron, after 25 years' responsible public service, 12s a week to live upon, is nothing short of a disgrace.