The Student Nurse's Status ,
The changes in salary for student nurses announced on Monday are of much greater importance than the mere addition of (roughly) £30 to the present annual stipends of L70, LSD and ao. From next January student nurses, instead of being given board, lodging and tuition and receiving payment which is little more than pocket money, will have handed to them the whole of their salary (£200 for the first year), of which, if they are resident, they will hand back Ltoo. Non-resident student nurses will receive not only the Lzoo but free meals and tuition. Rates will be the same for men and women, and there will be allowances for dependants, which will remove the difficulties of the girl who before could give no assistance out of her £70. The effect of the whole reform will be to take the student nurse off the lowest rung of the nursing ladder and give her the status of student. These changes were agreed on after protracted discussions by the Nurses and Midwives Whitley Council, which came into being with the National Health Service on July 5th and on which for the first time nurses have direct representation. There has, of course, been a good deal of unrest recently among student nurses, although they have already received a L15 rise this summer, and the first action of the Whitley Council was to consider representations from the student nurses' associations. Meanwhile, nursing figures are encouraging. From June, 1947, to June, 1948, there was a 2,,000 increase in full-time nurses and a 7,000 increase in part-time nurses in England and Wales. The estimated shortage is still over 40,000, however, and it will grow more serious as hours are decreased. The Whitley Council has already shown itself a valuable agent for reform. jt will find much more to do.
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