MORE LEISURE FOR NURSES

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 172, 15 April 1919, Page 3

MORE LEISURE FOR NURSES

ENGLISH HOSPITAL REFORMS. Within the last few woeks there has been a steady tendency to introduce reforms in tho working hours of nurses, and though so far there does not appear to be much uniformity in the arrangeraenfc ami amount of leisure granted, it is Tory evident that the committees of management of mtiny hospitals are alive to tho long hours which nurses have been called upon to work, states tho London "Times" of February 20. Many of these alterations involve an increase in the numbers of tho nursing staff, which is not always easy to arrango for, in view of tho limited accommodation in most hospitals, and the great difficulty in oxtending their building. Charing Cross Hospital within tile last two or three weeks has inaugurated a scheme by which the entire uqrsing staff gets one day off in tho week. St. Mary's Hospital for Women and Haistow, E., has adopted the same plan. The committee of management, when the suggestion was brought before them recently by the matron, unanimously agreed to it, at tho same time instructing the matron to get the necessary staff as quickly us possible. At Charing Cross Hospital the change means that the nursing staff have two hours off each day, four hours (Tti Sunday, and one whole day a week. This has been arranged without any increaao in tho. staff owing to tho closing-down of the military wards. But at St. Mary's, Plaistow, which is a small' hospital, it means that somo cottages will have to be taken outside to house the extra, stall'. Just before the war it was intended to build a new home for the nursing staff. The matron, however, is now hoping for contributions to her special fund for this purpose.

_ At St; Bartholomew's Hossfital the rule is n half-day one week find a whole day 1 the next, the senior nurses getting weekends off by arrangement.. It was for a time the only hospital whero the nursing staff had this amount of leisure. At the Middlesex tho rulo is throe hours each day and two days a month. At Guy's, the rule is one day and two halfdays a month; tho daily leisure is threo hours one day and one the next. . The long hours which nurses work have been one*of tho greatest deterrents to many wishing to enter the profession and comparing it with other professions. It does not appear possible, however, that they can bo reduced to the eighthours day desired in some quarter? without a loss at least to probationers interested in their profession. Sick persons cannot be brought under any trade union rules, and their complaints ;i'fe apt to progress in different ways in their attendants' absence. In at least one children's hospital, however,, the matron says she can arrange for an eight-hour day for her staff, and, as already announced in "Tho Times," it has been ■■decided at tho British Homo and Hospital for Incurables, Streatham, S.AY. 16, to adopt an eight-hour day for the nurses. There is no dearth of nurses at tho present time, and in the future, with so many V.A.p/s looking for a new opening for their energies, the hospitals will find plenty of excellent material waiting for tliem. The demand for better conditions in many industries and professions for women is so, constant at the present moment that it has reacted beneficently in the one profession the majority of whose members accept Jong hours, overwork, and low pay as a part of tho necessities of their vocation. Nursing conditions appear likely to improve without any great pressure from the ranks of this profession.

At an inquest on Private Mutter, of the Worcester Regiment, who died in Bath Hospital, the evidence showed that he had died from haemorrhage of tho stomach, due to starvation while a prisoner of war behind tho German lines. A doctor said that starvation had' reduced the lining of the. stomach so that it was like tho thinnest of paper. Among tho claims of the Brnintree (Essex) urban district council ou (lie military authorities for a captured German big gun is one to the effect that the first incendiary bomb dropped in England during the war fell on Braintree. This was on the night of Fabruary 21, 1915.

.WHEN THE NERVES GIVE WAY

Act Promptly to Arrest the Mischief. Hardly any condition of ill-health deserves ; more pity than that for which tliero is generally least sympathy. Jleu and women with nerves out of gear bccomo irritable and fretful, and are blamed for ill-temper; whereas it is not their fault. Their health is tho cause. Often the norv'es hitvo given way under the strain of working for the very people who reproach tho sufferors. The tired, over-busy wife or mother, whoso household' cares have worn her out; the breadwinner whoso anxiety for his family has worried him until ho is think and ill, are tho nerve-sufferers who becomo tuu down.

Their nerves, like all the bodily organs, need healthy rod blood; worry tells oil their digestion and their nerves nre illfed. In such cases a course of Dr. WilI Hams' Pink Pills for Palo People in 'necessary, for these pills make new blood ' and tone up the nervous system, by i which method thoy invigorate thoso whoso )iorve3 have given away. The patients become high' spirited and full of energy. Nervous starts and irritability are gone. Happiness for themselves and others returns.

You can begin to get well now. for Dr. Williams' Pink Pills aro to bo obtained from all chemists and storekeepers; ask distinctly for Dr. Williams', to obtain tho genuine, atid start to-day. Write for tho free booklet, "Diseases of the Nervous System," to tho Dr. Williams' Medicine Co., Box 845, G.1'.0., Wellington.—Advt.