EDITORIAL COMMENT

Judging from the amount of material which has come to us this week we would appear to have been close to the mark, last week, when we attributed the lack of response to the Festive Season.

Bearing in mind Alderman Ball's inaugural assessment that The Standard is 'a medium through which information can be conveyed to every member of the Hospital staff', we are pleased to report that 'Standardless' areas are now being reduced. If any still remain - please tell us.

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Social Therapy Review W/E. 16.1.72.

The Social.

The social, whether it be in the afternoon or evening, is not merely a means of enjoyment but a social exercise. It is not necessary for the patients to be on the floor, dancing all evening for it to be a success. The social is a means of encouraging our patients to mix freely whether it be on the dance floor or just sitting and talking with each other. After all, there is a social arranged every night and it is the same patient population who attend and we cannot expect them to want to dance all the time. I know that I would be loath to join in every dance and sometimes I prefer to sit and watch as do many of our patients. If we can imagine ourselves in the same position as our patients it would help us to understand why sometimes it is very quiet.

Last week, Mrs. Farrimond went on a shopping expedition to Warrington with a lady from Female 1D. She used her own car and had some tricky moments with the wheelchair which was necessary as the lady was a very poor walker. She reported that the afternoon was highly successful and expressed her wishes for a better means of transport for future trips. Private cars are not suitable for this purpose especially when wheel chairs are involved and we all agree that a mini bus would be ideal.

Recently members of the Social Therapy Department have begun training for the hospital sports to be held in the summer. This training takes the form of an hour's exercise in gym between 12.30 and 1.30 pm. All ex-members and interested parties are cordially invited to join us for this session which is held every lunchtime in the female gym.

As many of you know, we are now able to show our films as the projector is once again fully operational. Unfortunately, we have only a small repertoire of films to show and would be particularly grateful if any members of staff have any films which we could borrow. The patients are always interested to see films of people they know. If you have any, could you bring them down to the department and be assured that every care will be taken of them.

K. Appleton.

CLUB NEWS

COMING ATTRACTION

The Carousel sounds DISCO, will be appearing at the Club on Thursday, February, 3rd.

Tickets will shortly be available from the Entertainments Committee. Meanwhile advance bookings can be made via John Cummings, M.6. Down.

SNOOKER

Steve Cox was the only winner when Winwick played Moss Side 'B' team in the Inter-Hospital Snooker match played on Tuesday, 11th January. However, on the next night, Moss Side's team failed to arrive, thus giving Winwick the game.

Winwick 'A'	2	St. Mary's	6
Winwick 'B'	7	St. Austins Legion	1

On Wednesday, 12th January, we had a very good win against the Grey Horse when they lost 4 - 1.

We next play The General Elliott on Wednesday, 19th January (away).

Darts and Dominoes

Last Friday the darts team achieved a home win by beating The Comfortable Gill 5½ - 2½ but a 5 - 0 defeat at dominoes leaves them with a difficult job in the League.

Bowls.

The Annual General Meeting of the Bowls Section is to be held on Thursday, 27th January at 8.00 -on. All Members and new members are welcome.

Details of the Bowls Dance will be published shortly.

W. Hamson.

On behalf of the Social Therapy Staff and patients - I would like to thank

Mr. A. Green,
  17, All Saints Drive,
      Thelwall

for his kind gift of weight lifting apparatus, which will be greatly appreciated.

J.A. Jolley
Social Therapy Officer.

We note with pleasure that members of the Staff Side of the Joint Consultative Committee have recently been permitted to see the report of the Hospital Advisory Service on Winwick Hospital.

Readers will remember that the Advice Section of the report recently appeared in these pages, and we applaud all such measures to keep people informed of the vital issues of the day.

Publications Committee

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CHESS CLUB NEWS

Last Tuesday the Hospital team took an important step toward the L.R.H.B. League title when we travelled to Rainhill, one of our strongest opponents, and beat them 4-1 . The point we dropped was the reward for some splendid opportunist play, not all of it confined to the Chess board. In the warm and plush surroundings of Rainhill's Staff Club our player must have been somewhat unnerved to watch his opponent, already wearing scarf and heavy overcoat, produce a huge sweater and drape it over his knees. But it was probably the 'Bleep,' followed by journeys to distant telephones, which broke his iron resolve to win by inducing a feeling of sympathy fatal in a Chess game.

It is just as well that Boteler G.S. have requested a postponement of this Tuesday's match on the grounds of exam pressure. Faced by a diminutive team of tired, anxious students we'd probably lose 6 - 0.

R. Bruton

WARD PHARMACY TECHNICIAN SERVICE

For some months a different method of requisitioning and supplying of pharmacy supplies has been in operation on a growing number of Female wards, now amounting to nine, 1,2,3,4, (Up and Down) and 9 Up. For the interest of all nursing staff, but especially for those who may be required to do duty on any of the wards concerned, this necessarily brief explanation of its operation is given.

Once per week each of the wards is visited by two Pharmacy Technicians with the Stock sheets pertaining to that ward. These consist of a number of pages on which are listed the medicines, reagents, dressings and sundries which constitute the normal stock level for that ward, sufficient to last for at least seven days.

The contents of the medicine cupboards are examined by the Pharmacy Technicians, and the number of items or packs required to bring the stock up to the desired level is entered in a column, of which there are thirteen - to last three months.

The Stock sheets, together with any used or empty containers, are sent in the ward's medicine box to the Pharmacy, where the required items are collected, checked and returned in the box to the ward. After being checked on the ward the Stock sheets are initialled and returned to the Pharmacy.

Medicines which are newly prescribed in between visits are obtained in the normal manner, using the appropriate Schedule or Non-Schedule requisition book. Unless prescribed for a short term only (e.g. Antibiotics) these are added to the Stock sheets. Stocks of other items are added or adjusted as and when required, although it is obviously more convenient for these, unless urgently required, to be adjusted at the time of the ward visit.

Some advantages of this method are:

1. Since all stocks are examined weekly, medicines are replaced before becoming out of date, and other goods liable to deterioration or contamination are regularly seen and exchanged if suspect. This helps to ensure that the medicines and other items which the patients receive are of full potency and quality. Economy is also achieved when dated preparations can be used before the expiry date, on wards which use them more frequently.

2. The Sister or Deputy is relieved of the daily chore of stock-taking, requisitioning, receiving etc., giving her more time for nursing activities. Since the ward box goes once only instead of four or five times per week, this obviously has benefits also to the Pharmacy and its Porter.

3. Weekly visits by the Pharmacy Technicians make hoarding obviously unnecessary. Smaller ward stocks not only create a little more use of supplies.

4. Regular contacts of pharmacy and nursing staffs on the wards are helpful in understanding one another's problems and in improving communications with ultimate benefit to the patients.

We would like to extend this service so that other wards also could benefit from it, but owing to the Pharmacy Technician staff's time being already fully committed, it is doubtful if this can at present be attempted.

(Much credit is due to Senior Pharmacy Technician, Mrs. Smith, who did the initial preparatory work for this system on almost all of these wards; also to the remainder of the Pharmacy staff who were carrying on with diminished numbers during the period when I was absent on sick leave.)

H. Taberner

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A situation recently occurred where four members of a ward staff were unavailable for work during the same week, either on holiday or in school. The four included two Student Nurses and one Pupil Nurse.

Could not a system be devised whereby a Nurse in training is given full notification of future ward allocation? In this way the Unit Officer would be able to take into account periods in school, etc., when arranging holidays in conjunction with the staff of any given ward.

Clearly, the present procedure leads to difficulties.

L. Bayliss

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Do you know of any news which would be of interest to members of the hospital staff? If so, we would be grateful if you could inform members of the Publications Committee or reporters R. Bruton, N. Bates, W. Hamson, L. Smith, or H. Taberner.

Publications Committee.

On Wednesday, 12th January, Mr. G. A. Royle, Director of Social Services in Warrington, gave a talk to a group of nursing staff on the re-organisation of the Social Services in Warrington.

Beginning with an outline of the post 1948 structure of the Local Authority Health end Welfare Services, he went on to discuss the changes effected by the adoption of the recommendations of the Seebohm Committee, which were introduced in Warrington last April.

After speaking of the relevance to the mental health field of some of the changes taking place in the local authority, he concluded by sketching the implications of the next milestone in the path of the department, which will be its incorporation into the Cheshire boundaries.

We are fortunate in having people such as Mr. Foyle, who are willing to give time to keep us aware of important developments, which, although taking place outside our walls, should be of primary concern to workers in the hospital service.

Publications Committee

Notice Boards

Anyone wishing to display items on the notice board in the kitchen corridor should submit same to the Clerical Office. It will then be placed under the appropriate heading.

M. T. Downey
Deputy Matron

THE NEED FOR FIRE PROTECTION

The 1971 Fire Precautions Act constitutes the first Act of comprehensive legislation to outline the precautions which must be taken where people are accommodated, in any great number. Among the occupancies to be affected by this Act are Hotels, Hospitals and Schools.

Hoteliers, Hospital and School authorities bear a heavy responsibility with the fire danger being always present. If the importance of safeguarding the people in their establishments is not fully recognised it is inevitable that at sometime a major tragedy will occur.

There are many precautionary measures that Managements can take such as efficient staff training, adequate fire appliances, fire alarms, fire shutters and fire doors, but with the multiplicity of activities, plant equipment and services in hospitals it is not possible to prevent all fires from occurring.

In all fire precautions there is one vital weakness which must be recognised, this is the critical time lapse between the fire starting the alarm sounding and effective action at the source of the fire - it is sometimes the difference between life and death.

It must also be recognised that it is usually the contents and people in the building that will burn and not the building, itself.

The fire at the Shrewsbury Hospital in 1963 clearly shows this. The following comment appeared in the newspapers of the day "Doctors and nurses acted calmly and with courage but the fire had taken hold and spread with such rapidity that no human agency could prevent the deaths of 22 people".

The deaths in fact were mainly due to the toxic fumes produced by the combustion of cellular upholstery. The burning came afterwards.

It is believed that a lighted cigarette end left on a chair in the dayroom of the ward started the fire. The upholstery smouldered for 1*#189 to 2 hours before developing into a major fire. When the fire brigade arrived there were flames in the dayroom and the dining area and the whole ward was smokelogged.

A Committee of Inquiry expressed the opinion that had a particular door been closed some of the patients who died could have been saved, also had an additional screen and door been provided at another point, few if any of the lives would have been lost.

All 3 exit doors had spring locks and could only be opened by some staff who had keys. They were locked at the time of the fire.

A night nurse noticed smoke at 11.50 p.m., but no attempt was made to operate the fire alarm until some 10 minutes later.

24 patients were killed and 11 were injured.

THERE IS A CONSTANT NEED FOR FIRE PROTECTION.

C. P. Evans.

On Sunday, 16th January, 1972, Mr. C. Evans Fire Officer, held the regular Brigade practice. This month, members of the Hospital fire brigade saw two fire films: "Control of Fire" and "They Called it Fireproof". Mr. Evans wishes to remind Unit Officers and Heads of Departments that the films are still available for a limited period, and can be shown to their staff.

Members of the Brigade are reminded that the next practice is on Sunday, 6th February, 1972 at 10.00 a.m.

Publications Committee

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A SPECIAL ATTRACTION

THE KNOTTY ASH PLAYERS

Present for your pleasure

Kenneth Graham's well known play

T O A D  O F  T 0 A D  H A L L

In The Recreation Hall

on Saturday, 29th January, 1972 at 6 p.m.

ALL ARE WELCOME - PATIENTS AND STAFF

BRING THE CHILDREN

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WELCOME TO:

Dr. Ahmed	- Medical Officer
A. Conroy	- Nursing Assistant
Dr.Fesharaki	- Medical Officer
Dr.Gulland	- Medical Officer
E. Smith	- S.E.N. (Who will be
remembered by many of the staff as Eileen Duffy.

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