§ Colonel Nathanasked the Minister of Health the extent of the response to his appeal for an additional 100,000 hospital nurses, and the nature of the arrangements made for refresher courses for those who are trained and for training those who arc not trained?
§ Mr. ElliotThere are now some 7,500 trained nurses and 2,900 assistant nurses enrolled in the Civil Nursing Reserve, and approximately 45,000 women have applied for training as nursing auxiliaries. In addition it is hoped that the majority of the immobile nursing members of voluntary aid detachments, some 24,000 in number, who have been released from their service obligations will enrol in the Civil Nursing Reserve, 6,500 having already applied for enrolment.
The arrangements for training untrained auxiliaries are in the hands of the county and county borough medical officers of health, with their local emergency committees, the scheme of training having been laid down by the Central Emergency Committee for the Nursing Profession with my approval. The training consists of lectures in first-aid and home nursing and a period of instruction in hospital, amounting, if possible, to a fortnight or 96 hours taken over a longer period, although a minimum of a week or 50 hours is permitted. Refresher courses for trained nurses are being arranged by the Royal College of Nursing and in some areas by the medical officers of health and their local emergency committees.