Report of the Working Party on the Recruitment and Training of Nurses.

Date:
1947
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Working Party on the Recruitment and Training of Nurses. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    121/132 (page 113)
    Health Acts. Second, the advances in recent social and preventive psychiatry, much stimulated in the Services during the war by its associaton with normal psychology*, have placed the whole field of mental disability on a new and hopeful plane, and there should be encouraging repercussions in mental nursing. 6. The new health measures unite physical and mental medicine together in a single service by transferring to the Minister of Health and the Secretary of State for Scotland respectively, the present administrative functions of the Boards of Control in regard to mental health, the Boards retaining only their quasi-judicial functions connected with the liberty of the subject. As we have pointed out (paras. 138 and 144) the occasion presents an excellent opportunity for integrating mental nursing within the general nursing services of the community by. breaking down the barriers which still keep apart the spheres of mental and physical health. The recent move to discontinue the examinations of the Royal Medico- Psychological Association is a step in this direction. 7. The shortage of nurses is perhaps more acute in the mental field than in any other: at the same time, wastage during training appears to be highest of all in mental nursing. What is there in mental nursing that produces an accentuation of the various difficulties encountered in the non-mental field ? This is a problem which was considered by the Lancet Report, the Athlone Committee and other bodies. But there is little ground for hope that what has so far been said or done is adequate to meet the present dire situation. The annual Reportt of the Board of Control for 1945 (p. 4) refers to recent improvements in scales of pay but adds that “the continued shortage of mental nurses suggests that further measures will be necessary if the recruitment to this service is to meet the needs of the hospitals ” 8. We have made a special effort to ascertain the views of all grades of nursing staff in regard to their working life and conditions, at a representative sample of mental hospitals and institutions. A large number of nurses were interviewed individually or collectively for this purpose. In addition, the nurses were invited to confer and submit a considered statement of views in writing. 9. There can be little doubt that discontent and apathy among nursing staff are much deeper and more widespread in the mental hospitals and institutions than in the non-mental field. The sources of discontent are much the same, relating to pay, duty and off-duty periods, lack of adequate amenities and unduly restrictive discipline. It must be remembered, however, that in these isolated institutions, in which nurses remain for considerable periods, these points assume an even greater importance and are felt moreacutely. Inparticular, there is need to the choice of medical superintendents with an eye to the sympathetic under- standing of the needs of nurses, to social and recreational amenities and to such matters as the provision of transport to and from the nearest towns. Nurses who are only mentally trained, when seeking promotion or adminis- trative. appointments, suffer at present in competition with those who are also * See the Report of the “‘ Expert Committee on the Work of Psychologists and Psychiatrists in the Services.’ H.M. Stationery Office. 1947. + “ The Thirty-Second Annual Report of the Board of Control for the year 1945.” H.M. Stationery Office. 1946.