Girls Not Compelled To Work in Mental Hospitals

Taranaki Daily News, 28 August 1942, Page 4

Girls Not Compelled To Work in Mental Hospitals

Wellington, Aug. 27. "I do not know of any case where a girl has been forced to take up duty as a mental hospital attendant against her will," said the director-general of mental hospitals, Dr. T. Gray, yesterday afternoon. He was commenting on a discussion at a meeting on Monday night of the Mount Eden Borough Council, Auckland, when concern was expressed by members on the subject. The Council decided to communicate with the Auckland Manpower Committee expressing its disapproval of the compulsory drarting of girls to unsuitable employment. "We are very short of attendants," said Dr. Gray, "being 237 below normal staff requirements throughout the Dominion. In some hospitals there is only about half the normal staff, and some of those at work are breaking down under the strain. "We have got to get staff from somewhere, and we have approached manpower committees, who have furnished us with a number of names. The practice is to interview the girls to see if they are suitable and are willing to take up the work. In one case I know of 20 girls who were seen and of them only one was agreeable to serve. She was the only one who has begun duty. "There seems to be a public misconception of the nature of the duties of mental hospital attendants," concluded Dr. Gray,