THE NATION'S HEALTH
Sia,—In your article on " The Nation's Health " in The Spectator of July 3rd, you say that the shortage of nurses " is really serious. Means must be found to induce more young women to enter the nursing profession." The remedy you suggest is " the long overdue reform of increasing the pay and improving conditions of work;' but I would like to add another, that of improvement in the accommodation provided for nurses.
In a large general hospital in Scotland, doing great beneficent work for the community, it seems to me extraordinary that some nurses are expected to occupy rooms where the windows are blacked out with paint instead of blinds so that the nurses occupying these rooms are unable to see the light of day if they desire privacy when off duty.
My belief is that the payment made to nurses, at least when they are receiving their training, is to the present-day young woman who has the gift of nursing less of a deterrent to her engaging in that profession than the feeling that her welfare is of no account.—Yours faithfully, A. KNIGHT.
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