Reports on hospitals and the patient and a domestic workers' charter
1931 1931 1930s 22 pages charitable institutions for the sick poor and that the demand has always exceeded the supply. In consequence, hospitals have had to be run as economically as possible. By beginning the important period of washing and bed-making very early in the morning a smaller staff of nu...
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| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
London : Labour Party
1931
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/F7A688BC-1718-46EE-889A-21EE5B39E199 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/67F48179-299D-4A4B-85F0-C3788441FA9B |
| Summary: | 1931
1931
1930s
22 pages
charitable institutions for the sick poor and that the demand has always exceeded the supply. In consequence, hospitals have had to be run as economically as possible. By beginning the important period of washing and bed-making very early in the morning a smaller staff of nurses has been made possible. The fashion having once been set in the voluntary hospitals, the nursing profession, the most conservative of all, has insisted on the same procedure in the municipal and other hospitals. That this explanation is the correct one is shown by the fact that in nursing homes patients are awakened at much more reasonable hours. Evil Effects. The practice being established in this way the hospital authorities have been hard put to to try and justify it. They have pointed out that if all work is completed by 8 p.m. and the ward is quiet, nine hours' sleep is possible before 5 a.m. This is, of course, true, but, unfortunately, the wards are by no means always quiet by 8 p.m. The house surgeon or other medical officer usually makes a round at 9 or 9.30 p.m., and is liable to disturb patients. Moreover, many of our hospitals are situated in busy parts of towns and the streets do not often become quiet until 11 or 12 p.m., or later still. Further, not a few patients, after a restless night, drop off to sleep after 2 a.m., and for these an awakening at 5 a.m. is most undesirable, for only the very best sleepers can fail to be disturbed by the general turmoil necessitated in washing and bed-making. It is also urged that most hospital patients are used to getting up at 5 a.m., or before, and therefore have formed the habit of waking at this hour. In the case of chimney sweeps and lamplighters, this is probably correct, but it may be pointed out that manual workers start work much later than was the practice some thirty or forty years ago, and that all classes now make use of the hospitals. 7 a.m. the Right Hour. The real reason why hospital authorities are unwilling to change the time-honoured custom of early waking is because they fear that an increase of nursing staff will be rendered necessary. Where the provision of nurses is anything like adequate however, the hour of waking patients can be changed to 7 a.m. (10)
126/TG/RES/X/1036A/7 |
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |