§ 71. Dr. CHAPPLEasked the President of the Local Government Board whether his attention has been called to the report of the matron of the Lambeth Infirmary to the guardians regarding the impossibility of obtaining nurses; and whether, in view of the fact that this scarcity of nurses is general and increasing, he will consider how far the disinclination of young women to enter the nursing profession is due to the abuse of nurses' uniforms, the exploitation for gain of undertrained nurses, and other evils connected with the nursing profession and its relation to the sick, that could be remedied by State registration of trained nurses?
§ Mr. BURNSI understand that in May last the medical officer reported to the Lambeth Infirmary committee that the matron was finding increasing difficulty in obtaining probationers; that temporary 34 nurses who had to be engaged were expensive, and that the arrangement on the whole was unsatisfactory. Since that date I have sanctioned a substantial increase in the permanent nursing staff. With regard to the general questions raised as to the nursing profession, I may refer to the answer which I gave to my hon. Friend on the 8th May.
§ Dr. CHAPPLEIs it not the case that this difficulty is very general and that it is an increasing difficulty; and is it not time something should be done to protect the sick from the scarcity of nurses in general?
§ Dr. CHAPPLEWould the right hon. Gentleman like to receive some evidence upon that point?