| WINWICK HOSPITAL WARRINGTON | ||
EDITORIAL COMMENTHealthy constructive criticism is often a pointer to an improved approach and the use of more efficient methods. This is all to the good, but in order to achieve the maximum benefits and avoid dangerous pitfalls, the critical faculty requires to be bridled by full enquiry into circumstance and reined by enlightened understanding. This principle is becoming more and more evident as The Standard begins to gain momentum and move into the higher gear, and the gypsy's warning as sounded by Messrs. Aston and Bainbridge should not go unheeded. It is pleasing that the demand for copies of The Standard increases, We shall do our best to meet the demand in the hope that it satisfies a need.A PROGRESS REPORT.A year has elapsed since the visit of the Hospital Advisory Service to Winwick Hospital. Has the memory of it, I wonder, been repressed in our collective subconscious? Or is there some other explanation for the fact that no contributor to The Standard has so far made even a passing reference to it. It would be a mistake I think to forget our not altogether unpleasant experience of the Hospital Advisory Service. The insights which resulted from it were both valuable and productive. Direct or indirect outcomes include the Unitisation and Integration of the Nursing Services; the institution of the central linen supply; the re-establishment of the Joint Consultative Committee; and last but by no means least the birth of The Standard. Other projects still in a gestatory state include, I understand, the upgrading of the Industrial Therapy Units, the reduction of ward numbers and the rationalisation of domestic services. It would be a pity, however, if these innovations, valuable though they are, were allowed to lull us into a state of self-complacency. If our ultimate goal is a truly therapeutic community embracing the whole hospital, even though the achievements to date represent major steps in the right direction we have still a very long way to go. Yet how are we to realise this concept when it is only very imperfectly understood? And how can we gain an understanding of it when the expositions presented to us by its more erudite exponents are clouded in obscurities? Or how can the concept be made to embrace the whole hospital when the gardener and engineer, the tailor and the clerk, the shoemaker and hall-porter - when all of these good people have not the slightest inkling of what it is all about? As far as the wards are concerned, how can the patients fully participate in a therapeutic community when we persist in treating them as children who may be seen but not collectively heard? Provide solutions to these problems and we will be within shouting distance of the therapeutic community.C. BRESLIN.LETTERS TO THE EDITORSDear Sirs, I would be grateful if you would publish the following suggestions in the 'Standard', and invite readers' comments. They concern possible improvements in fire precautions.1. That a small board or notice be placed near the entrance to each ward, indicating, in diagrammatic form, the position and nature of all fire appliances etc. in that ward. E.g. Alarm bells, fire doors, etc. 2. That a larger board of the same type should be placed near the corridor alarm system, indicating all fire hydrants etc., in the rest of the hospital and grounds. May I take this opportunity of wishing you and your colleagues every success in your publishing venture.L. BAYLISS.Dear Sirs, I enjoy reading "The Standard" and it was all the more enjoyable to read the comment by Miss Coppack about the Collective Effort and quite encouraging to think that I even though such a tiny spoke in the wheel took part in a venture to help further even better things to come of a rapidly progressing psychiatric hospital.E. LAWRINSON.Dear Sirs, I would like to thank Mr. Ashton for his prompt action in coming to our ward to discuss the problems we face regarding patients' diets. Although I think my criticism was justified, the ward staff and kitchen staff are now more aware of each others' problems. Since all departments function with the same end product, the care of the patients, we should be able to look at each others' problems and accept criticisms.J. MORT.* * * * * * * *W H A C ! ! !The title of this letter does not mean Winwick Hospital's able cricketers but it has been proposed by several keen anglers that a club be organised with a president, officers and a committee. Any seasonal angler or beginner wishing to take an active part in the above proposed club please contact me.S. JONES.
After reading last weeks issue of the Standard, I was appalled to read what J. Mort had to say about the food on her ward. If Mrs. Mort had been in discussion with her Charge Nurse, she would have known that the Catering Department, was always open for suggestions and if she thought that there was something wrong with the food served to patients why did she not complain to her Charge Nurse, who has been in touch with the Catering Office on numerable occasions. We of the Catering Department, know we are not 100 per cent, but are actively trying to improve the standard of catering in this hospital. It would be more helpful and constructive if in future staff direct their complaints to the Catering Office through the proper channels and not use the Standard as a cannon with which to fire broadsides.
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