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.

    38/132 (page 30)
    86. Infectious diseases hospitals and tuberculosis sanatoria*. Between 1937 and 1945 the average annual intake of students to fever hospitals would appear to have been about 1,700 and to sanatoria about 1,400. In both cases, as with _ the general training schools, intake seems to have reached its peak in 1943 and thereafter some decline set in. It is estimated that there were 1,300 new students | in fever hospitals in 1945 as compared with 2,300 in 1943 ; the corresponding figures for sanatoria being 1,000 and 1,800. In 1945 the intake to both kinds of hospital was the lowest in the entire period and in both instances was some 24 per cent. less than the average yearly intake in the 9-year period. During the seven years 1937 to 1943 the annual student intake of fever hospitals suffered an average loss of more than 1,000, or 56 per cent. ; the annual student intake of sanatoria suffered a loss of some 900, or 64 per cent. In both cases wastage was much higher than in general training schools. About 67 per cent. of those who left fever training, and 79 per cent. of those who left tuberculosis training, “ wasted ” in the first year of training. 87. Summary of estimated intake and wastage in all fields. The estimated intake of student nurses to all types of hospital, other than maternity, is summarised in Table XVIII which follows. Over the seven years 1937 to 1943 the annual intake was roughly about 23,000 of whom about 12,400 (54 per cent.) were lost during trainingt. To the problem thus presented we turn in the next chapter. TABLE XVIII Summary of estimated intake and wastage of student nurses 1937 to 1943 Average Average Waste? a ini t ape 5 Teainine Annual Intake Wastage ce af iar General— Voluntary .. as Re Be 8,900 3,100 35 Municipal .. aa Bee Xe 4,200 1,800 43 Fetal > =2. ef ar 13,100 4,900 37 Mental (Females only) ss sts 6,800 5,600 82 Infectious Diseases .. Be ae ety 1,800 1,000 56 Tuberculosis Sanatoria ss Ks 1,400 900 65 ToTaL .. 4 Ee 23,100 12,400 54 Figures illustrating the trends of student intake and wastage follow. x Although students preparing for the Tuberculosis Association Certificate only are not approved students for the purposes of the General Nursing Councils, we have felt it advisable, having regard to the importance of this field, to include them in this section. The estimated figures of intake are given with some reserve in view of the difficulty of distinguishing those students preparing for the Tuberculosis Association Certificate from those pursuing courses under an affiliation scheme of the General Nursing Councils. + The report of The Lancet Commission (1932) estimated that 33 per cent. of the intake to hospitals of student nurses or probationers was lost every year. The basis of this estimate is not wholly clear. We are satisfied that at present the wastage over all hospitals is appreciably higher.