HOSPITAL NURSES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 2, 27 September 1918, Page 6

HOSPITAL NURSES

Sir—l read with interest the lettqr of "Inquirer" in your issue of September 19, and the reply of,the chairman of the .Hospital Board to the inquiries made. The chairman omitted to inform "Inquirer" that the nurses of the probationer stage, and in fact until they become "sisters," have to work eight hours a day for seven days a week, wifli 110 respite except throo weeks' holiday once a year. The consequence is, Mr. Baldwin might have told "Inquirer," that a fairly largo percentage of nurses arc always ill;. The hospitals arc really State institutions, and, whether the niirses are being taught tlieir profession or not, they should be treated as the other State employees are treated. They should not be required to work more than six days a week, and should havo at least one day in seven to themselves for recuperative purposes. As regards the

~ . ... . i food; I understand there is plenty of it, but it is generally of an unappetis- , ing character —that is, it is not calculated to tempt tired girls who have j been working hard attending the sick. ' i When the nurses have special duties j they work 12 hours a day. In fact, in the smaller hospitals the whole staff of nurses works 12 hours a day.—l am, etc., \ TRUTH.