Report of the Committee of Management and Medical Director : 1947 / Papworth Village Settlement.

  • Papworth Village Settlement (Cambridge, England)
Date:
1947
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Committee of Management and Medical Director : 1947 / Papworth Village Settlement. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    5/26 (page 5)
    OF MANAGEMENT, 1947. For many reasons the year 1947 was one of outstanding import¬ ance for the Settlement. In the first place we were honoured by a visit from our President Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal on the 23rd July. Her Royal Highness’s in¬ terest in Papworth remains unabated and her presence invariably repre¬ sents a red-letter day to every member of the Settlement. The principal ob¬ ject of Her Royal Highness’s visit on this occasion was to lay the foundation stone of the “Edith Edwards’’ Child¬ ren’s Home. Mrs. R. G. Edwards, M.B.E., the generous founder of the fund for this purpose was present together with many members of her Committee, and it is a source of real satisfaction that it is now possible to make definite progress in carrying out this valuable addition to the needs of the Settlement after the enforced delay caused by the War. Her Royal Highness spent a full day at Papworth and made a very thorough inspection of the Hospital Section of the Settle¬ ment and also of the Industrial Section. An important and far-reaching im¬ provement has now been carried out in the centralizing of the general catering arrangements of the Institu¬ tion, and a Catering Officer, Miss Clay, has been appointed and has taken charge of this Department under the direction of the Matron, Miss Robin¬ son. The new arrangements are work¬ ing smoothly and well and have already proved of great advantage to the patients. The acute shortage of Nurses is still our worst trouble in dealing with advanced cases, in spite of the fact that [5] the Committee willingly sanctioned the special allowances recommended by the Rushcliffe Committee for long¬ term tuberculosis nursing. So serious has been the difficulty of providing a sufficient number of nurses for bed cases that the Medical Consultative Committee advised the placing of certain restrictions on the type of cases to be admitted and with reluc¬ tance the Committee had no alterna¬ tive but to adopt this recommenda¬ tion. Owing to the continually increasing rise of costs of all kinds, it was found necessary twice during the year to make some increase in the charges for maintenance. These increases have been generally accepted since it is obvious to everyone that all Institu¬ tion costs are mounting. In spite of these increases there will inevitably be some deficit on the year’s running- costs and it Is almost impossible to budget ahead to cover all future con¬ tingencies. During the year the Farm House at Fir Tree Farm, which was not required by the new tenants of the Farm, has been taken over by the Committee and converted to provide accommoda¬ tion for Male Nurses who are now employed to help in staffing the wards. On the Industrial side the outstan¬ ding event of the year was the stoppage of work caused by the fuel crisis early in the year. As the Industries’ work¬ shops depend entirely on electricity for power it will be readily under¬ stood how serious was the effect of this crisis. Great credit is due to the Manager, Mr. Tallyn, and the heads of Departments for their action in instal-