EDITORIAL COMMENT

There are two points which are perhaps worth a mention this week.

First Point: It appears that last week's article regarding the anti-abortion rally has generated an unusual amount of emotional heat. The policy of The Standard is that all shades of opinion should be freely published; likewise the right of reply is equally available.

Second Point: A critical comment from one of our senior consultants - to quote, "The Standard is rapidly becoming a 'who thanks who for what' magazine.

He may well be making a valid observation. However, since the sum total of contributions from this eminent body in nearly a year is a grand total of one, this in turn almost equals the number of contributions from senior management during the last half year. I really begin to wonder who is at fault and why?

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Social Therapy Review

Saturday and Sunday this week saw two major events in the Social Therapy Calendar. The first, on Saturday evening, was the Sportsman's dance held in the female gym. As you know it was a 'by invitation only' dance with each guest bringing along a friend. It was surprising to see the number of our patients waiting in the corridor, "spruced up", hoping to latch on to an unescorted guest. Being specifically a ticket holder and guest dance many patients were turned away, the therapy being that our patients may be given incentive by being denied some things, the dance one of them. It was unrortumate that our guests from Female 3 Up were unable to attend for they missed an extremely entertaining evening and guests from Male 3 Up missed their company in dancing. A local pop-group, The Avalanche, came to play for us as volunteers and we convey to them our very sincere thanks in contributing their tine for our pleasure which indeed it was. The medals and voucher's were presented by Mr. Vardy, who so kindly gave up his free time for us, along with Mr. Thomasson who we shall soon be putting on the staff list! The dance went on until 10.30 p.m. with everyone leaving very happily if not a little tired out. The bar proved very popular and no-one drank to excess. A great success which everyone enjoyed.

The second event was the finals of the Talent Contest held, again in the Female Gym. Mr. & Mrs. Martindale were the judges and they had quite a job in deciding the winners. The attendance rate was very good and the standard of entries very high. The only point which was a little disturbing was the selection of patients sent down to this venue. We organised this venue with the hope that all those attending would have some degree of interest either in participating or watching. On the whole our hopes were realised but some ladies and gentlemen were obviously unsuitable in that they appeared to have no interest in the proceedings and spent the evening wandering about the hall.

All things considered, it was a most successful weekend and we will be pleased to repeat the exercise nemt year.

On Tuesday, 25th April the staff foot-ball team played in the semi-final of the inter-hospital cup against Whiston, at Winwick. Winwick lost 4 - 2 and Whiston go on to play in the final.

K. Appleton.

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The Catholic Nurses' Guild.

The Catholic Nurses' Guild was revived in Warrington recently and many nurses from Hospitals in the Warrington area attend the meetings, which are held on the third Monday in each month at Warrington General Hospital, commencing at 8.30p.m. by kind permission of the Hospital Management Committee.

At the first Meeting, held in January of this year, a Provisional Committee was elected consisting of:

President. Ward Sister Kathy WALSH
Vice President: Ward Sister Mary SMITH
Treasurers: Ward Sister HAYBYRNE,
            Student Nurse Joyce HENRY
Secretary: Ward Sister Ann WAKEFIELD
Chaplain: Father David O'Brien.

In order to give some idea of the progress so far, the following is a summary of what has taken place.

In January, there was Mass in the Nurses' Home, followed by a general discussion.

At the February Meeting, Dr. Kevin Rees spoke on "Abortion".

The March Meeting was attended by Father Walsh, S.J., who gave a talk on "Conscience".

At the last Meeting, in April Dr. Tweedy spoke on "Euthanasia".

In addition to the monthly meetings there have been the following events.

A reception for the Student Nurses (new intake) was held in February. This proved to be a most enjoyable evening.

There was a Whist Drive to initiate Guild funds in April - a very successful evening.

On Saturday, 22nd April 1972 a Coffee Morning and Bring and Buy Sale was held at Ashton Hall.

There was also a day of recollection at Loyola Hall in March.

The next meeting is on the 15th May, 1972 at 8.30 p.m. in the Nurses° Home of Warrington General Hospital. This will be a General Meeting and the last before the summer. It is planned to take stock of what has been done already and democratically discuss what we want to do for the Autumn Meetings.

It is planned to have an Election of Officers in the Autumn, when it is hoped a Committee will be formed which will be representative of all hospitals in thee area.

Do please come to the main Meeting and help the guild get going in the area. Any member of the Nursing Staff is welcome to attend Meetings and put forward ideas.

As every Nurse knows the aims of the guild are to help us Spiritually, Professionally and Socially.

This is you Guild, you must decide how it is to be run.

There is a two day pilgrimage to Lourdes in October. If anyone is interested in this an early booking is essential and further details may be obtained from Sister Anne Wakefield, Warrington General Hospital.

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A Florence Nightingale Service has been arranged at St. Barnabas Church. Lovely Lane, Warrington, on Thursday, 11th May, 1972 at 6.00 p.m.

I wonder if any of the staff at Winwick would be interested in attending this service in uniform.

M. Healey
Matron, Warrington General

Study Symposium

Severalls Hospital, Colchester, Essex

By kind permission of the Winwick Hospital Management Committee C/N W. Casson, C/N A. Horrocks and myself were given leave of absence to attend the 3 day symposium hold at Severalls Hospital on The Care of the Psychiatric Patients in the Community. Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday, 24th, 25th, 26th April, 1972.

As the participants of the symposium were due to assemble in the main hall of the hospital at 9.30 a.m. 24th April, it was necessary that we travelled to Colchester on Sunday, 23rd April and as British Rail had called off their work to rule two days previously Messrs. Casson. Horrocks and myself caught the 11 a.m. train from Bank Quay to Euston, and all credit to British Rail our train left and arrived on time.

On arrival at Severalls Hospital at approximately 6.45 p.m. a total travelling tine of 7¾ hours we were met by a nursing officer who welcomed us to the Hospital and gave us an information sheet, containing such items as: where the sherry party was to be held on the Monday evening, where members attending the symposium were to take their lunch, and that the staff social club extended an open invitation to all visitors. Our guide then conducted us to our sleeping quarters allocated to the male members attending the symposium which was a recent upgraded ward not yet reopened for patient occupation.

The popularity of the symposium was obvious as the organisers had to arrange accommodation for 150 Nursing Staff from Hospitals as far apart as Bells Dyke Hospital in Scotland to St. Lawrence Hospital in Cornwall, and in addition to the resident members, there were over 50 nurses of all grades who commuted to Severalls each day of the symposium.

The symposium was officially opened promptly at 10.00 a.m. by the Chairman of Severalls Hospital Management Committee who welcomed most cordially all the visitors to the Hospital on behalf of his comittee, and he hoped all would benefit by studying such an important topic as Community Care.

Our first speaker was Dr. J.L.T. Birley, Dean of Psychiatry at Maudsley Hospital, London, and his subject was the care of the schizophrenic in the community, and some average statistics of the numbers of patients, per 100,000 population suffering from the illness are of interest. Dr. Noble stated that 13 new patients suffering from schizophrenia would occur each year and approximately 300 patients suffering from the illness would require some measure of treatment and that at least half of these would have to be treated in hospital.

Mr. Kempster the Principal Nursing Officer at St. Crispins Hospital, Northampton was the speaker for the Monday afternoon session, and his main theme was the Psychiatric nurse in the Community an interesting feature of Mr. Kempster's talk was that in the early stages of the introduction of the Psychiatric Nurses who are now attached to 4 general practitioners in the Northampton area was the apprehension and in some cases open hostility by the G.P.'s to the introduction of these Nurses. He concluded his talk by inviting any nurse to spend a week at St. Crispins to study how their system of the psychiatric nurse in the community is operating.

The second day of the symposiun was devoted to studying The Care of the Geriatric in the Community, the morning speaker being Dr. D.D. Thompson a consultant geriatrician, and the afternoon speaker being Mrs C. Smith a senior social worker, and one important factor emerging from the day's study, was that local authorities must supply a full range of supporting services to families caring for aged relatives in the community. These services should include Home help, Home nursing, Night Sitters, Laundry, Welfare food, Domiciliary physiotherapy, Occupational therapy, aids to ambulation and mobility, and perhaps the Chancellor of the Exchequer could be persuaded into giving a much greater income tax allowance to tax payers who are caring for an aged relative in their homes.

The speaker for the final session on the last day of the symposium was Dr. J.S. Maddow and his subject was The Care of the Alcoholic in the Community and he humorously stated at the beginning of his talk that whilst it was not a necessary qualification of an alcoholic it helped if one was Irish.

The symposium was obviously a great success as it achieved its main objective, that was to bring together a large number of senior nurses from all parts of the country to study, discuss, plan and exchange ideas and experience on this most important subject The Care of the Psychiatric Patient in the Community and the aims and objects of all present was undoubtedly to provide the best possible care and service for the mentally ill whether it be in the home or the hospital.

J.E. Wright

The following extract from the Handbook issued by the Department of Health and Social Security will answer Mr. Bromley's query as published in Standard No. 46.

"The members of a Hospital Management Committee are appointed by the Regional Board for periods of three years (unless filling a casual vacancy) and are eligible for re-appointment, though they arc not generally re-appointed at, or when approaching, the age of 75 years. Before appointing members, the Board is required by the Act to consult the local health authorities in the area, the Executive Councils, the senior medical and dental staff of the Group and other organisations which appear to the Board to be concerned; the Board has also to consult the existing Management Committee. This process of consultation does not however signify that members once appointed are in any sense representative of or answerable to those bodies which put forward their names for consideration. They are chosen for the personal contribution they can make to the Committee by reason of their knowledge and experience. The constitution of each University Hospital Management Committee provides for the nomination of some members by the University and medical staff.

The Chairman of the Management Committee is appointed by the Board, a Vice-Chairman may be appointed by the Committee itself."

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LOST KEYS

Once again I appeal through the medium of The Standard regarding lost keys. As I got a very good response last-time and the owner came forward, I an hoping for the same help this time.

On this occasion I am asking for help in locating missing keys. The keys are a male pass key number 10, a locker key number 110 and small private key on the same ring.

Would all staff please check their keys to ensure these have not been picked up in mistake.

Your co-operationn in this matter will be greatly appreciated.

M. Downey.

. Lest your publication last week of an appeal to attend an anti-abortion rally should be mis-construed as in some sense representing the view of The Standard and hence, indirectly, the staff as a whole, perhaps you could print the following brief comments on that appeal.

It is surely over-emotional and incorrect to imply that only people who are against abortion have a "regard for human life and dignity". It is at least arguable, to put it no more strongly, that the people, like myself, who see the present Act, with all its imperfections, as basically a valuable piece of legislation, have an equal regard. One has only to think of the time, before the Act when back-street abortions were the rule, with their attendant dangers to the physical health of the women concerned and the depraving atmosphere engendered by the "cloak and dagger" nature of the proceedings, to see that "human life and dignity" have, in some ways, been increased by the "new" legislation.

It is significant that at least two of the speakers at the rally, and most of the leaders in the anti-abortion movement, are men. As men, they do not have to experience the mental anguish of progressing with an unwanted pregnancy nor of coping with the ensuing problem of caring for the child often in a situation which, because of a complex of social and/or psychological factors is impossible to cope with. How many women, before the Act, have even committed suicide as a result?

The reference to a "millionaire abortion empire" whilst perhaps a little emotional, is a very valuable one. This is not, though, the result of the Act itself but of the unwillingness of the National Health Service to provide sufficient facilities to make private clinics and the ensuing abortion empire unnecessary. At a more fundamental level, it is the result of a state of affairs existing where individuals can make vast amounts of money out of providing private health facilities.

One part solution to the "problem" of abortion is to increase the facilities and education in regard to contraceptive techniques. Unfortunately, at least one of the speakers concerned seems to be as much against contraception as against abortion. For him, at least, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children could be relabelled, equally emotionally, "The Society for the Protection of the Unfertilised Ovum", or "........... the Frustrated Sperm" or some such term.

Nobody forces anybody to have an abortion.

In view of the points I make, all reasonable people could surely unite in demanding the following:-

1. A massive government-sponsored campaign to provide free contraception and to educate people in the use of contraceptive techniques, such facilities to be available to everyone.
2. The freedom for women to obtain abortions, the freedom of Health Service personnel not to take part in such abortions if, for ethical or other reasons, they do not wish to do so.
3. An increase in abortion facilities within a truly socialised and free National Health Service leading over a period of time to the abolition of private abortion clinics. Hopefully, this would proceed to the abolition of "Private Health" completely.

E. Bromley.

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Welcome to:
Post Reg. Mrs. J. Morris
Pre. Student Miss C. Carey
N/A Miss J. Worrall
N/A Mrs. Mollinson

Seconded for General Training

D.C.N. A. McNally
D.C.N. S. Henderson

Congratulations to:

John Bainbridge and Ernie Aston on their recent appointments as, respectively, Catering Officer at Winwick, and Catering Officer at Warrington. With the skills they have already shown we have no doubt of their success in these posts.

A prize has been offered for the Winner and Runner up in a poetry competition. Anyone can enter.

Entries to Social Therapy Department
Closing Date 1.6.72

Any Subject
Any Length
But, Please no Toilet walls

It is hoped to publish the winning poems in The Standard.

Publications Committee

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