Nurses in the Home
SIR,—As an ex-Queen's nurse, I have been greatly interested by recent correspondence in the Spectator, but I cannot believe, as long as we have our nursing services, that any patient, dying as a result of some chronic illness in his own home, will be allowed to " die in torment." I also find it difficult to believe that, when these cases are admitted to hospital, they are nursed alongside mental patients and often die " broken-hearted." There have never been sufficient beds in hospital to provide for the chronic sick, except in the large public assistance institutions, where a patient is never keen to go, although, once there, he is well nursed and soon becomes settled and happy. Surely the slightly mental cases are still housed in a separate block.
Whilst deploring the fact that many women are now working in various forms of industry, when, in many cases, it would be better if they remained at home to look after their families, I would like to point out that the district nurse (who in most cases can only pay one visit each day to a chronic case) can nearly always get hold of some- body to help. There are branches of the Red Cross Society in almost every- town and village, and my experience has been that their members are always- ready and willing to help in any emergency. Some of these branches have a home-help scheme, which sends members who have been trained in home nursing to homes where there is a sick person with no domestic help. These excellent people work admirably under the supervision of -the district nurse.
There is something very wrong with our present-day nursing ser- vices -if any patient lacks care, attention and kindness, whether he be in hospital or his own home, especially when death is approaching.-
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