Annual report of the Board of Control : 32nd, 1945.

Date:
1945
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Annual report of the Board of Control : 32nd, 1945. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    13/64 (page 9)
    and Scotland should release ioo doctors in 1942 and another 50 in 1943 ; the number to be provided by institutions in England and Wales being 85 in 1942 and 44 in 1943. These releases were additional to the large number of medical practitioners who had already joined one or other of the Services between the outbreak of War and the end of 1941. The table below shows the number of doctors who left institutions for service with the Forces from 1939 to 1945. Of the total 252, 81 per cent, were released for recruitment by December, 1942. Outbreak of War (1939) to 23rd December, 1942 24th December, 1942, to 31st December, 1945 Total Outbreak of War (1939) to 31st December, 1945 M. F. T. M. F. T. M. F. T. Public Mental Hospitals 160 4 164 34 — 34 194 4 198 Registered Hospitals ... 14 — 14 3 2 5 17 2 19 Licensed Houses 6 — 6 — — — 6 — 6 Mental Deficiency Insti¬ tutions 20 — 20 9 — 9 29 — 29 200 4 204 46 2 48 246 6 252 Shortage of Nursing Staff The demands of the Forces and other War-time services made inroads into the nursing staffs of mental institutions. Between the outbreak of War and 1st July, 1940, approximately 2,000 male nurses joined the Forces or left for other War-time service ; while 381 female nurses were transferred to other forms of nursing and 109 joined the A.T.S. At this stage the net numerical loss was not very serious. The total number of male nurses (8,889) was less by 743 than on 1st August, 1939, and the total number of female nurses (10,867) was less by 375. But the loss of trained and experienced nurses and their replacement by less skilled personnel was beginning to create difficulties and in some hospitals the working of overtime and curtailment of leave were increasing. By the following year the position had materially deteriorated. In all but a few mental hospitals there was an increasing shortage of nurses—par¬ ticularly female nurses, and in some areas the shortage amounted to one-third of the normal staff. In these circumstances, following representations both from the Mental Hospitals Association and the Mental Hospital and Institu¬ tional Workers’ Union, the Board advised that steps should be taken under the Defence Regulations to stabilise the position. At the Board’s request the Minister of Health made an Order on 24th July, 1941, under Regulation 32AB of the Defence (General) Regulations prohibiting nurses employed in mental hospitals, registered hospitals, licensed houses and in mental deficiency institutions and certified houses, which complied with certain provisions as to scales of pay and conditions of service, from leaving their employment without the consent of the person in charge of the mental institution or the consent of the Chairman of the Board of Control. This Order was entitled Mental Nurses (Employment and Offences) Order, 1941 (S.R. & O. 1941 No. 1294) ; it was amended by a further Order—entitled the Mental Nurses (Employment and Offences) Amendment Order, 1944 (S.R. & O. 1944 No. 1080).