THE HOSPITAL PROBLEM.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LVII, Issue 299, 27 May 1915, Page 4

THE HOSPITAL PROBLEM.

POSITION IN NICW PLYMOUTH. LOCAL LAWKS TO ASSIST. Tim great demand for doctors all 1 imr.sc.-f to tend wound-d Nc\y Zeahindws ill the war han depleted the stall's i.f the New Zealand hospitals to such an extent that many of these institutions arc faced with a difficulty in ensuring completes and efficient management.. At New Plymouth the position is not so acute as in some other towns, and. the extent to which the war is being felt at the hospital was explained to a News reporter yesterday l,y Miss Bniu'ii, tho matron. Only one sister ]<is gone to the war, hut another sister has also left lately, leaving the mimher of sisters now *jt the hospital only four, while the full staff at present is . twenty-efcht. The number of nurses required tlluctiiates according to tin? number of patients iu lh(! hospital, and at present the work of the hospital calls for the- services of a few more trained nurses. While probationers arc always available, trained nurses are now more dillieult to procure, and consequently a greater strain falls on the few trained nurses. With a view to lightening the work of tins nurses, the assistance of New Plymouth ladies will be welcomed, and already Miss Urown has received numerous oilers of help. While ladies unaccustomed to nursing may not be suitable for actual nursing duties, there many ways in which tlicy can help the nursing staff, such as by sewing and doing many general functions which fall to the nurses, thus releasing the nurses to devote their time to work which calls for their special training. As the Hon. K. Heaton Rhodus (Minister for Hospitals) said the oth-r day, this hospital problem affords an opportunity for the young women of New Zealand to do their duty, as well as the young men, and it is to be hoped that ladies who have spare time will respond to this call, and so fulfil good work in a most deserving caifse.