The labour movement and the hospital crisis
1922 1922 1920s 21 pages in crowded waiting-rooms, often none too well constructed and ventilated. This entails much loss of time to the patient, or to the parents of juvenile patients, and to the spread of infectious diseases; it is also often very deleterious to the abnormal condition for which th...
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| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English English |
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London ; published by the Trades Union Congress and the Labour Party
[1922]
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/B1C9FFD5-539B-41D2-B0FD-D4A3FBA46FE6 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/897627F7-66CA-450F-B1FA-0ABE3C93A744 |
| Summary: | 1922
1922
1920s
21 pages
in crowded waiting-rooms, often none too well constructed and ventilated. This entails much loss of time to the patient, or to the parents of juvenile patients, and to the spread of infectious diseases; it is also often very deleterious to the abnormal condition for which the patient is seeking advice. Within the consulting room it entails constant working at high pressure and against time, which, in its turn, leads to hasty diagnosis and often to putting off to a future occasion what should be done at once. Towards the end of a long sitting it is impossible for a doctor to give of his best. Delays The demand on the existing number of beds and the under-staffing again causes long waiting lists for admission ; which in its turn leads to prolonged and unnecessary suffering, to diminished chances of recovery and in many instances to months of idleness, causing loss of production and diminished national wealth, not to mention the straits to which the family may be reduced owing to the loss of the bread-winner's wages. Appointments Though there is a monopoly value attaching to an honorary appointment to a hospital staff, it takes many years before a junior member begins to feel its benefits and to reap the reward of his labours. Consequently, it is very difficult for a man without some private income to venture on the career of a consultant; this greatly limits the choice of men for hospital appointments, and therefore it is not necessarily the best man who gets the post, but frequently the man with money, who can afford to wait. Nurses Nurses are grossly under-paid, their work is arduous, involving risks to life and health, and their hours are long; moreover, the accommodation provided for them is very often insufficient and uncomfortable, and these conditions taken in conjunction with an often inadequate and badly prepared dietary render their occupation unhealthy. This is probably a consequence of Voluntary Hospitals being founded as charitable institutions for the necessitous poor. Originally, charitably-minded women were willing to give their services for a minimum return as their share towards the support of these institutions, and in some instances the nursing was undertaken entirely by religious orders. With the advance of medicine and surgery nursing has become a skilled profession, requiring a long training, but salaries and conditions of service have not kept pace with these increased demands. Furthermore, a tradition has grown up of complete subordination of the ordinary nursing staff to the matrons and ward sisters, and of an atmosphere of servility where the doctors are concerned, which is exemplified by the almost invariable rule that nurses should remain standing whenever a member of the medical staff is present. In result, the ordinary staff nurse as a rule develops but little initiative and proceeds with her work entirely as a matter of blind routine. Patients There is some lack of confidence and a feeling of apprehension on the part of actual or potential patients in relation to the hospitals. This is due in great part to the conditions of the nursing service indicated above. In order to get through necessary work with the inadequate staffs at present allowed, even in the best hospitals, it is impossible, even if it were regarded by the hospital 5
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |