HOSPITAL NURSING

Dominion, Volume 14, Issue 44, 16 November 1920, Page 7

HOSPITAL NURSING

Sir-I most entirely ana heartily con cur in the remarks of "Hospital 'PPeanng m your issue of oXy relcgardiiiß (ho inducement offered te H1096 ladies who adopt nursing- as a procssioii. i n „, r o|)inion the nrofesS Hospital is discreditable to every one of !' S . W1 ° ™ n - Btn,ld b - v aml «* >* I*°l'°tratod. Young women of (he type, with a desire to benefit humanity aro afforded an opportunity of training under a system which necessitates their nvorking at liard manual labour for eight hours .a day for seven days in the week, and at the end of their training they reeeivo a remuneration (which Mr Chapman actually regards as an inducement), which is less than 1 pay or am willing to pay an ordinary genwal servant. To suggest to these ladies that this remuneration is ,1 suitable compensation for undergoing such a period of hard labour is an insult, as, unless they had some higher motive, none would complete her training. In addition to (lip hours worked, as shown above (50 hours u week, without even a lialf-dny off), thieve are. as "Hospital Kefonn" points out, compulsory hours of study. If you will attend somo of these hours of compulsory study you will find that SO per cent, of tlu«o poor girls are sound asleep, with their heads on their books; being abiiolutcl.v- exhausted with a completed eight Hours' labour. Tlwy have, of .course, to mako up those hours of sleep by studying during hours when they should otherwise be getting some recreation. I quite understand that tho Hospital authorities, under tho conditions offered, aro at their wits' 1 end to find applicants for these positions, but it is ii disgrace to tho rest of us (who look to the-so ladies to stand between us and death wheal illness comes, realising (hat they have more to do with tho eaving of life' than hnvo the doctors themselves) to allow women to over-worlc and study for an average of Gil-ftl hours a week, while the robust labourer who works mid/lr raliilaraflinjf healthy conditions, can hardly bo persuaded to work 4i hours. These noblo women, -who como out with unimpaired health (and after a strenuous three years of hard labour, at wages which a sculleryinaid would throw in your face if you dared to offer it (o her), are insulted by the suggestion of a member of the board that the subsequent remuneration of an untrained general servant was the incentive for such a sacrifice. The Wellington Hospital Board must kavu a peculiar estimate of the reasons