Report of the Working Party on the Recruitment and Training of Nurses.

Date:
1947
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the Working Party on the Recruitment and Training of Nurses. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Proportion of nursing staff in each type of hospital above and below matriculation level. : Matriculation Below Type of Hospital Level or Above Matriculation Total Percentage Percentage Percentage General— Voluntary .. 4 o 36-0 64-0 100-0 Municipal .. of “te 14:7 85:3 100:0 Mental SP ie oa ss 7°3 92°7 100-0 Maternity .. cs a 25°5 74-5 100-0 Infectious Diseases “ie ae 16-6 83-4 100-0 Tuberculosis Sanatoria .. Me 14:8 85-2 100-0 38. Previous Occupational Experience of Hospital Nursing Staffs. More than half of all nurses in hospitals have been employed in some previous occupation before entering nursing. For about 40 per cent. nursing has been the first employ- ment. The vast majority of those who have had some previous. occupation have been employed as clerical or skilled manual workers, the remainder having been mostly engaged in semi-skilled work. In the case of the mental hospitals a much larger proportion—21 per cent. as compared with 7 per cent. in all hospitals —have come to nursing from a semi-skilled occupation. The details are set out below :— TABLE VII Pre-nursing occupations of hospital nursing staffs in Great Britain Occupation* Percentage I. Professional ‘ 0-1 II. Minor professional and “business, including the Civil Service 1-9 III. Clerical, skilled manual workers, etc. Eo ee ee ~ . 45-2 IV. Semi-skilled os Ha es 6-5 V. Unskilled oe oe es sis ae 0:9 VI. At school or no previous occupation ee ie igs “7% a 39-0 VII. Unspecified es ‘ . 6:3 TOTAL a a aa a <¥ Se 100-0 * The first five categories are those used in the Registrar-General’s Decennial Supplement, 1931, Part IIa. It will be noted that some 55 per cent. of the nursing recruits transfer to nursing from other employment. This suggests that the extent of what has been termed “the problem of the gap ”—the loss of potential recruits owing to their leaving school too early to proceed straight to training and taking up some other occupation —has perhaps been somewhat exaggerated. At the same time we have no doubt that the pre-nursing courses provided in various areas for girls between 15 and 17 or 18 years of age make a valuable contribution to nursing recruitment. 39. Socio-Economic background. About a third of the nurses in hospitals come from the socio-economic group embracing the minor professions, business,