HL Deb 08 June 1993 vol 546 cc709-10

11.54 a.m.

Lord Campbell of Croy asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they will encourage the restoration of the post of matron in National Health Service hospitals where it has been abolished.

Baroness Cumberlege

My Lords, the exact titles and responsibilities of senior nurses are for local decision. The title "matron" may be used if it is appropriate, but regardless of title there remains a key professional leadership role for a senior nurse in all National Health Service hospitals. Every NHS trust is required to have a senior nurse as an executive director.

Lord Campbell of Croy

My Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for her reply. However, did not the traditional role of matron mean that problems were perceived at an early stage before they became crises? Have not recent incidents shown that that dimension of professionalism and experience is needed now as much as it was in the time of Florence Nightingale?

Baroness Cumberlege

My Lords, of course, everyone working in the National Health Service wishes to anticipate problems before they arise. I have some sympathy with my noble friend, but I would point out that in years gone by hospitals were very different places. Nurses were different too. They were largely unmarried; some would say near nuns, married to the hospital. They lived in, they spent nearly all their working hours running the organisation and they retired to hospital premises. Today they have family commitments, many are part-time and some are working for degrees. They are better educated, better paid, highly skilled and professionals in their own right. They have to cope with sophisticated new technologies and are expected to make clinical judgments.

Lord Carter

My Lords, is the Minister aware that if the kind of matron whom we used to know still existed, I am sure that the Government would have found it extremely hard to introduce the gagging clauses that are now common in NHS employment contracts?

Baroness Cumberlege

My Lords, there are no gagging clauses in NHS contracts. The noble Lord will be aware that the department will put out some guidelines very shortly on the issue.

Lord Harmar-Nicholls

My Lords, is the Minister aware that, whether or not it is practical for technical reasons to do what my noble friend Lord Campbell wishes, it would certainly be popular throughout the country if it could be done? Will she keep that in mind?

Baroness Cumberlege

My Lords, there is nothing to stop a hospital choosing the title "matron" for its senior nurse, whether it is in the National Health Service or the private sector. It is a matter for local decision and if the hospital feels that it is appropriate it is at liberty to choose that title and use it.

Baroness Masham of Ilton

My Lords, is not one of the better points about the American health service that it has a chief of nurses who is the equivalent of a matron? Does the Minister agree that many problems in a hospital can be solved by the matron and thereby save many other tiers of administration?

Baroness Cumberlege

My Lords, I am not sure that the title is all that relevant. I certainly meet senior nursing officers in hospitals who terrify the daylights out of me. I think they run a very tight ship. They are clinically extremely able and they are better educated and better paid than ever before.