WELLINGTON HOSPITAL

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 43, 15 November 1920, Page 6

WELLINGTON HOSPITAL

Sir,—There appears in The Dominion of November 13 a letter from C. 11. Chapman, a member of the Wellington Hospital Hoard, setting forth in somewhat roseate colours the attractions of the Wellington. Public Hospital as an institution where young women may learn the profession of nursing, but the writer of the said letter, while doing his best to display attractive features, nus not m my opinion shown that candour or strict observance of fact that the public is entitled to expect from a member of tbo Hospital Board. The first statement by Mr. Chapman that may bo token exception to is that "no nurse on the staff is called on to do more than eight hours' duty out of the twenty-four hours per day." Unless Mr. Chapman restricts tho word "duly" to actual presence in a ■ward this statement is inaccurate, for nnrecK frequently arc compcllod tc work overtime in wards, also to relieve nurses who ore absent, likewise there is tho ono hour daily compulsory stndy,. ako attendance a(. lectures and classes, which, amount on an average to about two hours per day, making the period of duty, viz.. that, work which a nurse.is bound to perform, amount to ten, hours per day, Mr. Chapman omits to mention that nurses in the Wellington Hospital aro on duty for seven days per week, and have no time for relaxation nway from. Wellington except for the brief annual vocation. Wellington Hospital in this respect occupies an almost uniquo and unenviable position; tho nurses at the Auckland and Hamilton Hospitals being allowed ono day 'olf per week, and other Dominion hospitals have some weekly period' of relief from duty. Whilo Mr. Chapman stresses the quality of the training which nurses receive at the Wellington Public Hospital, he omits reference to the fact that sixty per cent, of the time occupied in the wards by nurses during their first three years is devoted to menial work, which at most hospitals is performed by charwomen or orderlies-viz., sweeping floors, polishing metal work, cleaning lavatories und closets, also utensils, etc. If the statements made by me are incorrect, it is open to the medical superintendent to give them denial, accompanied by detail. The taxpayers of Wellington are entitled to facts, and tho writer can sen no good purpose in correspondence which may bo suspected ot cftmonflaßC -- In SbOTITALREPOHM. Wellington, November 13, 1920.