Abstract
THE urgency of the recent appeal for more nurses, midwives and domestic hospital workers is clearly set forth in the Government booklet “Staffing the Hospitals, an Urgent National Need” (H.M. Stationery Office, 1945. 3d. net). This booklet gives details of the unanimous agreement reached between the Government and the various hospital organisations. The Minister of Health, the Secretary for Scotland and the Minister of Labour and National Service say that “the situation is serious already. It is likely soon to become critical unless thousands of new recruits can be obtained quickly.” The Government and the hospital authorities have agreed upon salary increases, improved working conditions and prospects, the formation of a national reserve of nurses, much-needed reforms such as the employment of married and part-time nurses and permission to live out of hospital, the training of more male nurses and the formation of a grade of 'ward orderlies' to assist the nurses. A National Joint Council for England and Wales has been formed to regulate the terms and conditions of service of hospital domestic workers. Further details of the proposed reforms are given in a memorandum issued with the booklet just mentioned. Certainly reform of the lot of the hospital worker has been, as every medical man will testify, overdue for many years. Without it we can scarcely hope to obtain enough workers to operate any national health scheme.
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Hospital Staffs and Working Conditions. Nature 158, 54 (1946). https://doi.org/10.1038/158054a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/158054a0