The labour movement and the hospital crisis
1922 1922 1920s 21 pages authorities as desirable, for nurses to pay regard to the mentality of the individual patient, and a general brisk cheerfulness takes the place of any real sympathy or understanding. All medical instructions are faithfully followed, but any needs or demands of the patient ou...
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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/BCC2C443-7FBA-44FA-AD15-5F956703C556 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/C202359B-0057-465F-B810-8DDBD18BB50F |
| Summary: | 1922
1922
1920s
21 pages
authorities as desirable, for nurses to pay regard to the mentality of the individual patient, and a general brisk cheerfulness takes the place of any real sympathy or understanding. All medical instructions are faithfully followed, but any needs or demands of the patient outside of these tend to be ignored, and a cut-and-dried unintelligent course of procedure results, against which a private patient would revolt at once. The shortage of staff and the consequent pressure on the night nurse to wash and feed the patients before her period of duty comes to an end probably accounts for the custom of starting the hospital day between 2 and 3 a.m., causing a continual state of movement and unrest in the wards from that time until about 9 a.m. During this period patients are washed, breakfasts are served, beds are made and ward-cleaning takes place. The need for more consideration of the patient as an individual and a personality, and of more regard for the nerves of highly-strung patients, makes itself more felt with the extension of the hospital service to others than the unfortunate "downs and outs" of Society. Another cause of lack of confidence and a certain reluctance on the part of patients to enter a hospital is a widespread feeling that they may be made the subjects of experimental treatment. It is, therefore, of the utmost importance to ensure that the medical administration of hospitals supported or aided out of public funds should be so conducted as to convince every patient that, in conforming with the necessary discipline of an institution, he is not surrendering his liberty merely for purposes of scientific investigation, but in order that the treatment which he undergoes may be directed first and foremost to the object of restoring him to full physical efficiency. Choice of Patients The method of choosing patients for admission to the wards of the hospitals is full of anomalies. There can be no doubt whatever that admission should be solely guided by the nature and severity of the patient's illness and by the prospects of institutional treatment being of real and permanent benefit. In the past, and even now to some extent, this has been of secondary consideration. "Letters of recommendation" — so many for every guinea subscribed — were in vogue, and carried with them a certain degree of patronage, and gave to the public, ignorant of medical matters, the right of recommendation to the out-patient and in-patient departments at their own discretion. This system, demoralising to both subscribers and patients, is not so common as of old, but still exists at some of the smaller London hospitals and many provincial hospitals. More common now is the custom of large business firms or private people subscribing handsome sums to a hospital and demanding almost as a right the admission of their employees or dependents. The hospital authorities, for fear of losing the subscriptions, yield to their demands often to the exclusion of more urgent or more suitable cases. Doctor's Recommendations With a completely organised hospital system, with ample accommodation for all patients requiring institutional treatment, the admission of patients to both the in- and out-patient departments of the hospitals should be on the recommendation of the general practitioners responsible for them, provided, however, that a patient should have the right to a consultant's opinion when not satisfied with his doctor's decision on this or any other medical 6
126/TG/RES/X/1036A/6 |
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |