S1R.—I was glad to see that most of those who
wrote to Mr. Harold Nicolson about their hospital experiences after his review of Denton Welch's book raised " the familiar complaint that they are roused from their uncertain slumbers at 5 a.m." It is indeed a familiar complaint, about a hardship which " above all others causes resentment and distress." I have known cases in which the deaths of patients have been attributed by their relations to this matutinal curtailment of rest ; many more in which recovery has been retarded ; many more again in which hospital life has been made an exhausting misery by what Mr. Nicolson calls " this exacting habit." Sick people sleep fitfully, and should be allowed to sleep late ; often they only drop asleep in the small hours, to be roused unrested after two or three hours for the long, weary day. The reason given is that the night staff have to do the washing and tidying before the day staff take over. But surely hospitals exist primarily for patients, not for the convenience of nursing routine. Admittedly the day nurses have plenty to do as it is ; but if the health and comfort of the patients were a priority consideration, the thing could be arranged somehow. To be roused at five and washed, then to lie exhausted with nothing to do for hours, when you might have been recuperating with sleep, is a grievance both physical and mental. Mr. Nicolson, with his courteous and charac- teristic tolerance, says the layman " is at a loss to determine on which side the correct argument lies." Surely not. The layman knows quite well that what causes unnecessary suffering to patients is wrong and should be altered. The Ministry of Health should turn its attention to
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