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Taranaki Daily News, 16 November 1916, Page 4

A NURSES' HOME. The decision of the Taranaki Hospital 'Board to proceed with the erection of a nurses' home will meet with the approval of the public. It had been considered that a part of the old hospital building could be used to provide accommodation for the nurses until the war was over and the cost of building readied normal, utilising the rest of the building meantime for eases of infection disease. The idea o£ housing nurses ;r, the same building as persona suffering from infectious diseases never did commend itself to us, and we fire not sur-

prised that the Inspector-fleneral of Hospitals put his foot down on the suggestion. Br. Valintine rightly pointed out that to sper.d money on altering the building for the accommodation of nurses was sheer waste when the providing of a r.ew arid permanent home was only a; question of time. He recommended tlio Board to proceed with the erection of a separate, up-to-date home, to accommodate at least fifty nurses. The chairman fell i». with the suggestion, out wisely urged that provision be made for To nurses. 'I he Board has already £SOOO in liand for the purpose, and with another £SOOO it is thought a suitable building can be erected. No doubt the Government will subsidise the building, as it did the main hospital buildings; but even if it doss not, it surely will not be a hardship for the rich district the hospital so capably series to find the money. At present the nurses, as has been shown, are working under gi'jat difficulties, mm the wonder is that thc-y render the efficient service they do. Under the best conditions the nurses have a hard and trying) time, and they are deserving of the fullest consideration at the. hands of the Boori. The mistake was made in r.ot at tiia outset providing a new Tiuilding for the nurses. Before the new hospital was commenced tha nurses were fbort of accommodation. Their number has since

more tlmn doubled, and the need for doing something at once to case tiieir lot and give tliem the conveniences and comforts of % home can be realised. Tiie Bonn! has been somewhat tardy in coming to it business-like decision in the matter, but now that it has made up its mind, it should lose no time in potting the work in hand. V'he old hospital is required for infectious cases, and with a new nurses' home the hospital will bo complete and capable of rendering more valuable service t'j,\n ever.