Second report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords on Metropolitan Hospitals, &c. : together with the Proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence, and appendix / Ordered, by the House of Commons, to be printed, 5 August 1891.
- House of Lords
- Date:
- 1891
Licence: Public Domain Mark
Credit: Second report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords on Metropolitan Hospitals, &c. : together with the Proceedings of the Committee, minutes of evidence, and appendix / Ordered, by the House of Commons, to be printed, 5 August 1891. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.
26/956 (page 8)
![26 January 1891.] Mr. Lushington. [ Conrinued. Chairman—continued to be empty : he takes a record of that, and also notices whether the dressers are in attendance and doing their duty; and, if they are late, it is his business to report it to me ; for instance, that he found a dresser very late, that he had not finished the work by dinner-time. 9876. We will keep to the nurses for the pre- sent ; he would be communicated with by the sister in regard to any of the nurses ?—Cer- tainly. 9877. About the working hours of these nurses, can you tell us what they are ?—Yes, I can give it you exactly. First of all we may deal perhaps with the day nurses. The day nurses are ex- pected to be up and out of their dormitories at 20 minutes past seven ; they breakfast immedi- ately afterwards, at half-past seven, and they enter the wards at eight o’clock. They dine in two batches. The first dinner hour is from half past 11 to 12, and the second batch dine from 12 to half-past 12 ; half an hour being allowed for dinner. They have tea at half-past four to five, and five to half-past five. They have supper again at half-past eight to nine, and nine to half- past; and they leave their wards at a quarter to 10. 9878. But now in regard to dinner, you say the first lot of nurses have only half an hour for dinner, namely, from half-past eleven to twelve o’clock—Yes. 9879. Does that actually mean the time they have for dinner?—Yes. 9880. Are not the wards a long way from the dining room?—Not very far; but, I am sorry to say, I think as a general rule the nurses are very much disposed themselves to curtail this half hour. It is, as you know, a very busy time in the morning in the wards between half-past eleven and twelve ; and they run down and get their dinner as fast as they can. 9881. You sav that they are “ disposed ” to curtail this half hour; would you not rather say obliged?-—No, I am sure ft is a voluntary service on their part; I am quite certain of that. 9882. Still, at the same time, though we may give them credit for all possible zeal, would it not make the work very much behind-hand if they took longer at their dinner?—If they had a longer period it would make it very much behind-hand indeed. 9883. I suppose that it takes the nurse two or three minutes to get from the ward to the dining room ?—Yes. 9884 And then she wants to wash her hands, and for that she has to go to her room, and then it takes two or three minutes to get back to the ward ; so that you whittle down this half hour ? —It is whittled down a little bit, I am bound to say that. 9885. Have you ever had under consideration the possibility of elongating this time ?—-I have thought over it, but it is not feasible very easily, because our patients dine at a quarter or twenty minutes past twelve; the sister carves the patients’ dinner and the nurses have to hand it round; and they must be back to do that. Then they have to tidy up the wards directly after that, and at half past one o’clock our surgeons and physicians begin to come round. 9886. At what o’clock do the In use surgeons Ch airman—continued. go round? — They ought to be going round directly after 10 o’clock. 9887. Then coming to the night nurses, what are their hours?—The night nurses go on duty at half-past nine in the evening. 9888. Before they go on duty' what do they do ; have they what one may call breakfast ?— Yes ; they breakfast at 10 minutes past nine p.m. They go on duty at half-past nine, and they leave their wards at half-past eight on the following morning. 98*9. Therefoi-e, for one hour you have the whole staff at work?—Yes; because it is very important just to have that time It is the beginning of the day ; not quite a whole hour, but a good portion of one. 9890. Do they begin attending to the patients earlier than half-past seven?—Yes; people of the working-classes have been all their lives in the habit of waking very early. 9891. And then the night nurses come down out of the wards at half-past eight; and then do they have any dinner?—Yes ; at twenty minutes past nine. 9892. Do they' take anything into the wards with them by way of food ; what we might call luncheon?—Yes, they do ; night nurses have tea and sugar served out weekly for consumption in the wards, to which is added each night bread and cold meat, or ham, or eggs, or potted meat. They usually make two light meals in the wards, one about midnight and the other about five in the morning. 9893. And what do they drink, tea or coffee, and do they make their own tea in the wards ?— They make their own tea in the wards. 9894. They do not have any beer in the wards? —No, not at night, in that way. 9895. Does anybody dine with the nurses, any official?—No, the matron goes down and carves for them on Sundays, and on other days the dormitory matron and the housekeeper. 9896. She does not actually eat the dinner?— No. 9897. Is there a housekeeper?—Yes. 9898. Where does she eat ?—She carves at the other end of the table. 9899. Supposing that the food fell short in quantity or quality, you presume that it would be brought to your notice ?—Certainly it would. 9900. Have you ever had complaints in that respect?—Little petty complaints ; not that they did not have enough, but that the meat was not as nicely cooked as it might be, and so on. 9901. To whom does that complaint ultimately go, to the superintendent?—It comes to me generally. 9902. Comes to head-quarters ?—Yes; and I make inquiries into it, of course ; and now and then I drop in to the nurses’ dinner myself and see what it all comes to. 9903. In regard to the patients, have they the same advantage ; does anybody go and see what they have for dinner ?—Yes, I constantly see the patients’ dinner. 9904. You said, just now, that one of your sources of income was from lady pupils?—Yes. 9905. Have you got a separate lady-pupil fund, or probationer fund, or do you keep it with the accounts](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b28040156_0028.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
