The Ellesmere Guardian. SATURDAY, MAY 16, 1891 A STRANGE GRIEVANCE.

Ellesmere Guardian, Volume X, Issue 910, 16 May 1891, Page 2

The Ellesmere Guardian. SATURDAY, MAY 16, 1891 A STRANGE GRIEVANCE.

The nurses at the Christchurch Hospital have a grievance. And it is * peculiar grievance too, for tbej apparently object to their hetilth being an object of solicitude to the matron and to the governing body. It seems that lately an alteration has been made m the regulations for tbe night nursing staff. Their superior officers think that the nurses who have been engaged all night, or from 8 p.m to 7 ».m m attendance m the wards, should take at least a couple of hours exercise m the open air before retiring to rest, Hitherto, they have been allowed to go to bed as soon as they came off duty, and permitted to go out from 4 o'clock to 8 o'clock m the afternoon The matron says, and with some show of reason, that this 13 unhealthy ; that a couple of hours m the open air is necessary to get rid of all tbe germs and the impurities of the sick roums ; that any nurse going straight from the wards to her own room to sleep is far more liable to catch any infectious or contagious disease than one who does take such exercise. The nurses argue differently. They say fiey come off duty tired and sleepy an i quite unfit for active exercise. They complain that if they do not get to bed until 9 a.m., they cannot get U|> m tune to acquire an appetite for the six o'clock dinner. The) further say that tho new hours intt-rfire with their visiting their friends m the afternoon, and th»t from 7 to 9 m the nvrning ia not a popular or convenient time for paying calls, eren on their intimate friends, Tho new aj> m§nmmmj[hm m? #ssi feT ,4

vantages, but on the other hand the advantages cannot be overestimated. The Cliristchnrch Hospital is almos the only one m which some such regulation has not been m force for year?, and we fancy it is only the novelty ■'♦of' the alteration which renders it unpleasing to the nurses. When they calnilj consider the advantages and disadvantages of th« change, we do not think they will* oppose if" long.