Off Duty
1937 1937 1930s 12 pages : illustrations The Minister of Health - AIMS STRAIGHT The Rt. Hon. Sir Kingsley Wood, M.P., says: "If hours are too long, the service suffers, however devoted a nurse may be, and they increase the risk of mistakes. I believe that the majority of authorities have th...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
London : Trades Union Congress General Council
[1937]
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/7DCE7B17-1AAF-468D-9CBD-32B810230921 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/9AA2BD9D-6AAC-481A-9B20-44DBD66FDBF1 |
| Summary: | 1937
1937
1930s
12 pages : illustrations
The Minister of Health - AIMS STRAIGHT The Rt. Hon. Sir Kingsley Wood, M.P., says: "If hours are too long, the service suffers, however devoted a nurse may be, and they increase the risk of mistakes. I believe that the majority of authorities have this matter well in mind. In a hospital there are often special circumstances and urgent calls, but it is in the interests alike of the patient, the nurse and the authority that working hours shall be reasonable, and in keeping with an arduous and difficult profession." [photograph] and the Chief M.O. HITS THE MARK! [photograph] "Local authorities, therefore, should not refrain from making desirable improvements in the working conditions merely because there is no open protest from the nursing staff, and no definite breakdown in the nursing service. If hours of work are in fact too long, the quality of the service must, in the long run, suffer, however conscientious the nursing staff may be. A tired nurse, however devoted, cannot give the same assiduous attention to the patient as a nurse still fresh and alert. Moreover, undue fatigue in the nursing staff increases the risk of mistakes which may be attended with serious consequences. "There is also the consideration that excessive hours of work may have a serious adverse effect upon recruitment — a matter causing concern to many hospital authorities at the present time. In this respect would-be nurses may be deterred by the tradition of the past and not realise the better conditions of to-day. The majority of local authorities are making an endeavour to effect improvements. Other authorities, if their hours of work remain unduly long, may, as a result, be either unable to obtain sufficient nurses or forced to accept entrants of a standard below their requirements. "It would seem, therefore, that the guiding aim, even though it cannot be fully realised in every case, should be to reduce excessive hours of work of a nursing staff to a reasonable extent, and that longer hours should be worked only if the interests of the service and of the patients under care necessitate this course." From the latest Report by Sir Arthur S. MacNalty, K.C.B., M.D., F.R.C.P.
292/54.73/2/2 |
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |