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.

    37/132 (page 29)
    Wastage in the sample of voluntary hospitals ranged from 22 to 57 per cent., and in the municipal hospitals even more, from 25 to 65 per cent. 82. The preceding figures of intake and wastage do not necessarily relate to the number of individual persons since nurses leaving one training hospital may, in some cases, enter another. On the basis of following up the later careers of a sample of ex-student nurses, it seems reasonable to assume that about 7 per cent. of those who leave one general training hospital continue their general training elsewhere. The average annual net wastage in all general training hospitals from 1937 to 1943 may therefore be put at about 4,500. In consequence, the estimated average annual intake 1937 to 1945 of about 13,300 students for general training is a “‘ gross ” figure, which includes a small proportion of nurses who are counted twice because they entered a second training school after leaving the first. The true figure of intake is likely to be some 3 or 4 per cent. less than the gross figure, 1.€., about 12,800, and the “ net” wastage of student nurses in general training may be estimated at about 36-0 per cent. of intake. Failures in the final state examinations are not included in the estimates of wastage and this applies similarly to wastage in other training fields discussed below. 83. More than 3 out of every 5 students who abandon their training do so in the first year of the course. The actual proportions leaving in each year of training are shown in Table D, Appendix III. As in the earlier calculations, figures for 1944 and 1945 have been omitted. As regards the proportion of intake failing to complete training during the years 1937 to 1943, about 23 per cent. were lost in the first year of training, 7 per cent. in the second year, and 6 per cent. in the third. As far as the first year of training is concerned, the position seems to be deteriorating, for 28 per cent. of the 1944 intake and 29 per cent. of the 1945 intake were lost in the first year. 84. Mental hospitals and institutions. The mental field presents a picture of almost unmitigated gloom. The average annual intake of female student nurses into mental hospitals and institutions between 1937 and 1943 is estimated as about 6,800, declining from about 9,700 in 1938 to about 3,800 in 1943. In 1944 and 1945 the intake declined still further to about 2,700 per annum. Intake of male students shrank from about 1,600 in 1939 to about 200 in 1943, increasing to about 500 in 1945. It is true that the mental hospitals suffered a great deal of dislocation as a result of the war due to evacuation of patients and overcrowding, while the armed forces no doubt attracted.a good many who might otherwise have entered mental training. 85. Between September, 1939, and July, 1940, about 2,000 male mental nurses entered one or other form of war service ; about 500 female mental nurses went to other nursing work or joined the women’s auxiliary services during the same period. During the war the tendency of women to enter general rather than mental nursing was accentuated, and male mental nurses could only be recruited from men outside military age or unfit for military service. Although we may grant that during the war the wastage of mental nurses was abnormally high owing to the acceptance of unsuitable student material, nevertheless the magnitude of the wastage during training cannot wholly be explained in this way. The average rate of wastage of female students in the 7 years 1937 to 1943 may be estimated at 82 per cent. of annual intake, and of male students at some 80 per cent. 29 B 2