Editorial Comment

Some categories of staff at this hospital, notably the Wardmaids, have voted not to accept Self-financing lead-in payments, and thereby have not accepted the implications of such payments.

As Mr. T.R. Rajput's article, Standard Vol.2 No.ll, makes clear, in the case of those departments which did accept.... "Arrangements are being made to start investigations into the..... departments as early as possible".

Since, in the interests of general efficiency, work may be varied from time to time in any job, confusion could arise as to the extent to which such change was the result of Work Study. Nothing but harm could come from a belief that, in spite of a ballot, one's job was being investigated and altered.

Clear, and, if necessary, repeated explanation now will more than pay for itself in goodwill.

TWELVE MONTHS AGO.....

We published details of the re-organisation of the Nursing Administration and the concept of clinical teams.....

The Social Therapy Department began their swimming sessions at Warrington Baths.....

Delph Hospital held their first barbecue.....

The Infirmary wards organised a Pet Show in aid of the Swimming Pool Fund, which then stood at £236.70.....

Miss Coppack asked what had become of the competition to name the wards, which had been announced some weeks previously.....

Integration of Nursing Staff began.... in the female wards and in the Nurses' home.

PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE

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INFUSION FLUIDS

A document just received from the Department of Health gives up-to-date advice on the examination of infusion fluids prior to use, precautions to be taken during use and steps to be taken in the event of any reaction to the infusion.

Copies of this leaflet, "Guidelines on Administration of Parenteral Infusion Fluids", are available from the pharmacy.

H. TABERNER

SOCIAL THERAPY

It's been a very busy week for cricket, with two patients' matches and one staff.

On Tuesday, we visited Cranage, resulting in a win for the men. Unfortunately they did not have a Ladies' team, so the Ladies played badminton and watched the final stages of the cricket match, On Wednesday, Redbank Masters played the staff. This was a very exciting match with Redbanks 11th man hitting a four off the last ball of the last over to win by one run.

It's been a very good season for the staff team, reaching the final of the L.R.H.B. knock-out and also playing ten friendly matches, during which several promising players have emerged.

Thursday, Deva visited us and gave the patients' team their biggest win of the season. Lancaster Moor brought a Ladies' team, but due to the cold and clouded day they decided to watch the film show.

Thursday gave us our first patients and staff fishing expedition to Rhyl. Despite catching no fish, and Charge Nurse Casson falling in, it was a great success - so much so that they have decided to form a patients and staff fishing club. Further information will be published in the Standard.

TUESDAY	Cranage	73 - 4	Winwick	44 - 10
WEDNESDAY	Winwick	73 - 5	Redbank	74 - 9
THURSDAY	Winwick	121 - 8	Deva	28 - 10

W. CROOK

IS THIS REALLY PROGRESS?

As a Charge Nurse on a geriatric ward, I am concerned at the path which the hospital is taking.

When are we going to be able to give our patients an adequate level of care and attention all the time, and not just when the staffing level is higher than usual? We are told that the most important person is the patient, but it appears that greater priority is now given to staff being engaged in activities off the ward - study days, in-service training periods, etc. - rather than concentrating on giving our patients the best of care.

Surely student and pupil nurses should be supernumerary to the regular ward staff? Nurses on geriatric wards should not be moved every few weeks. Old people are confused by the constant change of faces, and those who care for them should be mature individuals who are on the ward regularly. We are told that in the long run the hospital will benefit by having a better-trained staff, but it is difficult to see the benefit to the old men on our ward when a person who is good at the job, likes and is liked by the patients, and is happy on the ward, has to be moved on after a few weeks.

Even Charge Nurses and Ward Sisters no longer seem to be allowed to do their job properly. They now have to be 'flexible', which is another way of saying they are expected to "Act-up" for the Unit Officer, "Act-down" for the wardmaid, work in the ward to compensate for shortage of staff, and carry out their own job of managing the ward on top of all this. On Sundays, all four roles are often expected of us at the same time! .... Four jobs tackled and therefore none done properly.

After all this upheaval it is planned that the hospital will be so much better, but at the end will the patients really be any better off?

H. T. EVEREST

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PASTURES NEW

This week sees the departure of three of our Deputy Ward Sisters, M. Rynn leaves Female 1. Down to take up a post on night duty at Ashton-under-Lyne General Hospital; Male 5 Up are losing K. Sharp, who has obtained a post as Ward Sister at Sefton General Hospital, where she did her general training; while Joan Stretch is going down South to work in the field of Mental Subnormality.

Nurse Rynn will not be known to many of the staff, as she only came to Winwick last January, but in that short time she became liked and respected by her colleagues.

Kath. Sharp's name will be familiar to many, as she trained at Winwick before doing her general training, and represented the hospital Sports' team as well as being a member of our Netball Team. Our best wishes go with all of them.

PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE

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LETTERS TO THE EDITORS

The thermometers read seventy,
We thought that they were wrong.
And right throughout our ten hour shift.
We shivered all night long.

We thought that it was freezing,
But the thermometer does not lie
And as the night got colder
The temp. rose to seventy-five.

It must be wrong we pondered,
Our hands were turning blue,
We gave out extra blankets,
The patients were perished too.

At last we found a thermometer,
This one was working fine,
The temperature at three a.m.
In centigrade was nine.

Now the Delph girls are a sturdy crew,
The hardiest in the land,
But these Antarctic temperatures,
Are getting hard to stand.

We don't know what the trouble is,
If you discovered it would be nice,
But we're sure if something isn't' done,
We'll be found entombed in ice.

DELPH NIGHT STAFF

When can we expect a determined effort to solve the problems of the laundry supply to the wards? The number of hours wasted per week by staff having to go from ward to ward borrowing sheets etc., must be considerable, not to mention the continual frustration caused by having a shortage of the materials necessary to do the job, and the inconvenience to patients, especially on the geriatric wards.

The situation now seems to be as bad as when the Hospital Advisory Service first visited us, yet we do not appear to have passed the stage of each side's blaming the other for the deficiencies. Raising the matter at the various meetings has had no obvious effect apart from making everyone heartily sick of the subject, and there now seems to be a tendency to regard the problem as insoluble.

Surely a small working party of staff from the departments involved could make some headway towards finding a solution? Call it a pilot project in Participative Management, if necessary, but somebody do something.

D. McKENDRICK

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TRADE UNION NEWS

The monthly Branch Meeting of the Confederation of Health Service Employees will be held in the hospital on Monday, 4th September at 9.00 p.m. Discussion will take place on the future appointment of Union Stewards. As this subject is of major importance to the Branch, all C.O.H.S.E. members are urged to attend.

B. McAULEY,
Branch Secretary.

WORK STUDY - Part 1

The introduction of the self financing lead-in payment of £1.00 per week to full-time employees (pro rata for part-time employees) has brought realisation to staff that Work Study and incentive schemes are now a definite possibility.

The reaction of staff has been a mixed one, ranging from willing co-operation to one of downright opposition, with a genuine concern on such things as redundancies and work reallocation and a strong resistance to change, which is a natural reaction from workers when faced with something unfamiliar to them.

My object in writing this series on Work Study is not to describe the techniques of Method Study or Work Measurement, but to give staff a worker's conception of what Work Study is and what it aims to do, and a balanced assessment of its value for the workers, both as producers and as consumers, in the hope that it will help staff to consider Work Study in the right perspective.

The application of Work Study is becoming an increasingly important development not only in British Industry but also to auxiliary tasks such as office work and distributive jobs, and has a direct bearing on the economic climate of this country; and both workers and management are more and more finding it necessary to adopt a definite attitude. It is no longer something that can be put out of the mind as a relatively unimportant and minor development.

Trade Union Officers and workplace representatives today find themselves increasingly engaged in dealing with problems arising from management's use of various modern production techniques. In manufacturing industries this development has extended to almost every facet of production. In other industries, in services and in commerce, the attention paid to securing the most effective use of resources - whether capital, plant, materials or manpower - is already considerable and growing.

Work Study is prominent among the means used for these purposes and from it the more complex techniques have been derived. It is not of course a cure-all for productivity problems. A balanced view of Work Study would be that it can, properly used, effect great increases in productivity and eliminate many hindrances to output. Properly used, too, it can result in lower costs which can be applied to reduce prices or raise wages for the workers. In fact, higher wages should follow.

J. SHAW

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NURSING NEWS

WELCOME TO:	Miss K. Hallsworth (CADET)
	Mr. C. Ragen - Post Reg. Student

FAREWELL TO:	D/C    R. Florer
	D.W.S. K. Sharp
	D.W.S. M. Rynn
	D.W.S. J. Stretch
	Temp. holiday employee G. KING.

Seconded to Warrington General Hospital

D.W.S. M. Owen

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