The annual report of the St. Andrew's Hospital, Thorpe, Norwich for the year 1945 and statement of accounts for the year ending 31st March, 1946.

  • St. Andrew's Hospital (Thorpe, England)
Date:
[1946?]
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: The annual report of the St. Andrew's Hospital, Thorpe, Norwich for the year 1945 and statement of accounts for the year ending 31st March, 1946. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    15/36 (page 13)
    REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONERS of the BOARD OF CONTROL Norfolk Mental Hospital, St. Andrew’s, Thorpe, June 5th, 1945. We visited the hospital and saw the patients yesterday and to-day. Now that the war in Europe is ended we should like to congratulate all concerned on the success with which they have faced the dangers and difficulties of the past 5i years. The dangers fortunately did not end in anything serious. There were explosions of land mines on both sides of the hospital, showers of incendiary bombs around, and the passage overhead of flying bombs and rockets. But nothing landed on the hospital and the worst of the damage was broken windows. Nevertheless these were times of strain and anxiety for officers and staff, happily now over. The difficulties on the other hand, remain and are very evident, the most formidable being overcrowding and shortage of staff. According to the figures supplied to us, there are deficiences of accommodation by day for 103 males and 126 females, and by night for 93 males and 114 females. In practice, the overcrowding is serious. In some wards which we visited, bed after bed was separated from the next only by a space which could be spanned by one hand. The admission wards both for men and for women are much overcrowded, an uncomfortable state of affairs for those who need the best that the hospital can give, to help towards recovery. The wards in which most of the “gastric influenza” cases were to-day, are so overcrowded that proper nursing for infection is impossible. During the years of the European war we did not lay stress on the lack of space, because there were many more urgent problems. Now w7e hope that the needs of the patients suffering from mental disorder will be taken into account along with the needs of others for whom beds may be wanted. We are glad to hear that a beginning has been made by the release of 100 beds from the E.M.S. service; these have not yet been taken back into mental hospital use. The shortage of staff is most serious, as regards female nurses. The number of male nurses is 63—one less than at last visit (with 11 on night duty)—but though the total is low, Dr. Connell hopes for the return of some of the former male nurses before very long. The number of female nurses has again fallen, and there are now only 60 (with 13 on night duty) as compared with 78 last year and 107 in peace-time. Holidays and annual leave are given in full because they are regarded as necessary, and we understand that the daily work is such that it is not thought wise to add over-time work, to what is ordinarily done. Many of the staff are married and go on leave when their husbands return. The effect of these and other factors is that on the first day of otlr visit there were only 22 female nurses on duty in the wards; sometimes the number is lower. There were 642 female patients to be cared for. We do not think that it will