Work in Hospital
The report on hospital employment made by the social science department of Liverpool University is on too small a scale to be conclusive, but is interesting as indicating some of the general human problems of the hospital world. One of the chief com- plaints was found to be lack of promotion and class-barriers between various categories of workers ; and it is certainly true that some hospitals, with their Victorian background of 'self-dedication, tend to be over-hierarchical. But much depends on the matron, and the more modern matrons are trying to lessen the rigidity, encouraging satisfactory domestic workers, for example, to take nursing training. Resident staff in the Wirral hospitals complained that the life lacked variety ; non-resident that there were insufficient welfare arrange- ments for them. Both complaints may in part arise from the fact that the number of non-resident nurses has greatly increased since the war—a sign of hospitals' adaptability. It is, however, true that many hospital buildings are antiquated, and that improvements have necessarily been slow ; hence, too, probably the complaint of insuffi- cient canteen arrangements. The figure the Liverpool report gives of wastage-50 per cent. in the first nursing year—is high compared with the national figure ; but the idea of preliminary selection tests is already being studied by some hospitals, partly because one discontented probationer will infect others.
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