TRAINING OF NURSES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 814, 7 November 1929, Page 9

TRAINING OF NURSES

SIR CARRICK ROBERTSON’S VIEWS SUPPORT FOR NEW PROPOSAL “I cannot agree with the objections from the Trained Nurses’ Association to the proposal that nurses trained in private hospitals shall b© made eligible fbr the State examinations,” said Sir Carrick Robertson in a statement to The Sun today. He said that, nearly two years ago, it had been made clear in a letter from the General Nursing Council in England that there Tvould be reciprocity for any nurse who passed the State examination in a hospital that was registered. All the hospitals asked was that they be enabled to train nurses, the position having particular interest to private hospitals in Christchurch, Wellington and Auckland. “I cannot agree that the standard of nursing would be lowered,” added Sir Carrick. “How can they say that when nurses can now be registered after training at a small country hospital, with few beds and only one doctor in attendance. In reply to a recent statement by Mr. W. Wallace, chairman of the Auckland Hospital Board, who said that the change might make it difficult for the public hospitals to get nurses, Sir Carrick said he understood there was now a waiting list at the public hospital, therefore it was unlikely that the comparatively few nurses which the private hospitals would absorb would result in a wipingout of that list. “Personally, I would not like to do anything which would tend to lower the status of nursing in New Zealand,” he said. “When I was abroad I found that New Zealand nurses were regarded extremely highly in the United States and England.”