The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1901. HOSPITAL NURSES.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume XXIII, Issue 185, 14 August 1901, Page 2

The Daily News. WEDNESDAY, AUGUST 14, 1901. HOSPITAL NURSES.

A southebn contemporary dealing with the Hospital Report says:—"Dr. MacGregor, the Inspector of Hospitals and Charitable Aid, and also of Lunatic Asylums, has a very commendable habit of sptaking out plainly in the annual reports on the imporcant institutions under his superintendence, and, over a series cf years, has in this way done valuable service in the establishment of sound principles of management and the rooting out of abuses inseparable from divided authority and the complex character of the administration. Years ago, with emphatic force, he directed the attention of the Government and the Legislature to the pregnant evils of tka charitable aid system and the dangers which that system, if allowed to continue, would threaten the community, He preached, unfortunately, very much to deef ears, and has not succeeded in, as yet, inducing very practical reforms; but, nevertheless, his representations and argument?, constantly repeated, have made a distinct impression on the public mind,and it is, to tome extent at least, recognised that changes in the direction he has so lo»g advocated are not only desirable, but urgently r quired. In his report on the hoVpitais for 1900 01, just laid before Parliament, Dr MacGregor expresses himself in terms of the strongest condemnation in regard to the unjustifiable interference of hospital trustees in the macrer of the staff, especially ns to the promotion of nuraes and the appointment of piobatiooers. He ftates explicitly that the recommendations of the matron and mediial officers are continually set aside by members of the Boards, who insist on the appointment and promotion of friends of their own, with the natural consequence that too of tf n the senior or charge nurses are cot of the best type. In respect to probationers, the Inspector points out tint; in many instances they are not only noi; systematically instructed, bub there is a positive tendency, on the score ot economy, to have as many as possible who receive no pay for a period. The result, he says, is such an output of hospital nurses that the profession is swamped. Many of these term themselves private nurses, though they have no certificate, and could Dot pass any «ind of examination. "They know nothing about nursing; but they add a new and very real, as well as cosily, terror to illness and death." Dr. MacGregor considers the very grave evils which he so forcibly denounces as " inseparable from the system of local government," and there seems to be no doubt that this system, carried out to excess as it is in New Zealand, renders possible abuses in administration which are much to be deplored. In the exercife of patronage local bodies are very frequently delinquent in selecting for paid appointments, not the best but the most influentially recommended among applicants for a vacancy, and these who h ve no "friends at court" are heavily handicapped. It is bad enough wheu it is only the question of subordinate officers under a borough council er clerical employes generally, but the setiousness of the position in relation to the hospital, as disclosed by the Inspector, must n> Gels be generally realised. He makes definite charges agiinst the hospital trustees of disre garding qualifications in the promo'ion of nurses and the selection of probationers, and of insisting, in the face of the recommendations of the matron and medical officer, on the promotio

and appointment of friends of their own. The charge is so grave, in respect to posnibla coDSfquences of the continuance of such a state of things, fiat it becomes the duty of the Government to institute an exhaustive inquiry, or if this is not under the circuDj deemed expertise!;, toj satisfy themselves as t:o the allegations of the Inspector being based on substantial grounds. If so satisfied, measures should at once be tak«n to alter a con dition of things which, in the public interest, should no lon gar bo tolai at<?d."