Editorial Comment

Participative Mmanagement is a phrase which falls, with greater or lesser difficulty, from many people's lips these days.

The two-day seminar which begins this week for the sixty-four selected representatives will provide the first hard evidence of what P.M. will mean to this hospital.

We expect to be in a position to give a resumé in The Standard soon.

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Social Therapy Review

The last match of the cricket season was played on Thursday last when a visiting team from Royal Albert Hospital were defeated. The score was R.A.H. 67 for 8. Winwick 71 for 10. Winwick have for the fourth year running won a league medal. In '71 they were the champions and the other medals have all been for runner-up. The league consists of seven teams playing twelve matches each finishing the season with a Champions v the Rest match which this year will be held at Winwick on September 21st when the champions will be Langho Colony Hospital. The rounders team must again be the champions of the year even though there is no league and no medal or trophy to fight for. This we make an effort to compensate for by holding the "Sportsman's Dance" and presenting medals to all those who have so successfully represented the hospital.

On Bank holiday Monday we held a cricket match; staff versus patients. The patients' team won easily, scoring 134 for 9 against the staff's 82 for 10. The girls had a friendly rounders match with our cadet nurses playing some on each side. What made it more enjoyeble was the fact that the teams were made up with ladies from Female 4 Up, 2 Down and 2 Up, who thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

In future, all wards will be notified, beforehand, of the time that cinema will begin. In an effort to show complete films, those responsible have agreed to beginning the show at an appropriate time. It would be very much appreciated if those patients who need accompaniment and those who come alone are either brought on time or informed earlier. After all, if the beginning of a film is missed it is often difficult to pick up the threads.

K. Appleton.

Re. Mr. McKendrick in his letter to you last week on the subject of linen shortage on wards has made the plea - "Somebody do something". Somebody could do something and that somebody is Mr. McKendrick and his Nursing colleagues. Let me quote from a report made by an outside authority on behalf of the Regional Hospital Board.

"After viewing the foul work it is considered that less than 40% of the work being delivered to the foul wash room is actually foul. The following recommendations are put forward:

a)	Endeavour to reduce the volume of work by a re-appraisal of what institutes the foul category.
b)	By exercising more care in separating soiled and foul wash at ward level - a reduction of foul work by 50% should be possible and could provide a solution which would incur no capital expenditure" - end of quote.

I quote from another document -

"The problem is the lack of classification at ward. level and to rationalise the sorting of foul and soiled linen" - unquote.

I will draw Mr. McKendricks attention to the Memo dated 6th March, 1970, on the subject of foul and soiled linen. Read the opening remarks, I quote - "As a consequence some foul linen has been stored on wards and treated as soiled linen with the result that soiled linen areas have become foul smelling and objectionable and a possible danger to health."

This certainly put the situation at that time mildly and again relates to sorting of linen at ward level.

In the long run, however, I have a nasty suspicion that this part of the linen problem will not be solved by doing something at nursing level, where it could be solved and should be solved, but will be solved by spending £10,000 per annum of tax payers' money unnecessarily - or by declaring the problem to be a non-nursing duty. Why not ring the domestic superintendent?

G. Scott.

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Want to buy a Diamond?

Composed of crystallised carbon, the hardest substance known to man, diamonds never become faded or shabby from wear and tear.

They are a sturdy investment, for the price of diamonds has never dropped, not even during the 1930's depression, and not likely to now - for it is expected that the source. of newly-mined gems will dry up in about 50 years time.

Flawless diamonds of one carat and bigger are scarce on the open market just now. Jewellers say that the larger stones of high quality are being bought up and held by wealthy customers as a hedge against inflation.

Perfect colour in a diamond, as rare as flawlessness, is actually a clear and ice-like absence of colour. Many diamonds have a slight tinge of yellow, ranging towards yellow-brown in inferior stones. A gem with less colour of its own reflects light with a more rainbow-hued fire and brilliance.

A perfectly colourless stone with a slight imperfection may be worth more than a flawless deep yellow tinged diamond.

Occasionally an otherwise perfect stone will have a tint of an unusual colour such as pink, blue, green or violet, which will make the gem a more valuable diamond. The HOPE diamond is a deep blue stone. Most diamonds have imperfections in clarity - tiny specks of other minerals, streaks or inner cracks. If the blemishes are too small to see with the naked eye then the diamond is more valuable.

Good cutting is probably more important than clarity or colour. A beautiful stone can be ruined by poor cutting; whereas an expert can make an imperfect stone beautiful. Expert cutting involves shaping and arranging the facets to get the most brilliance and fire from the diamond's unique power to bend light rays and break them into rainbow colours. Each facet is placed in a mathematically calculated pattern devised by physicist MARCEL TOLKOWSKY. The patterns of todays diamonds usually fall into one of six categories each with fifty-eight facets. All require a table (the top flat facet) a catlet (bottom facet) and the other fifty-six facets above and below the girdle. The six categories are BRILLIANT, MARQUISE, OVAL SHAPED, HEART SHAPED, PEAR SHAPED, and EMERALD.

Once a diamond is cut and polished it has lost 50% of its original size, but its brilliance and freshness will last forever. 500 tons of diamond-bearing quartz have to be excavated, crushed and sorted to produce ONE CARAT of uncut diamond.

Diamonds must he a girl's best friend!

B. Naylor

Industrial Relations: Code of Practice

Part VIII - Grievance - Dispute Procedures

1. All employees have a right to seek redress for grievances relating to their employment. Each employee must be told how he can do so.

2. Management should establish, with employee representatives or trade unions concerned, arrangements under which individual employees can raise grievances and have them settled- fairly and promptly. There should be a formal procedure except in very small establishments where there is close personal contact between the employer and the employees.

3. Where trade unions are recognised, management should establish with them a procedure for settling collective disputes.

4. Individual grievances and collective disputes are often dealt with through the same procedure. Where there are separate procedures they should be linked so that an issue can, if necessary, pass from one to the other, since a grievance may develop into a dispute.

Industrial Grievance Procedures

5. The aim of the procedure should be to settle the grievance fairly and as near as possible to the point of origin. It should be simple and rapid in operation.

6. The procedure should be in writing and provide that:

a) the grievance should normally be discussed first between the employee and his immediate superior;

b) the employee should be accompanied at the next stage of the discussion with management by his employee representative if he so wishes;

c) there should be a right of appeal.

Collective Disputes Procedures

7. Disputes are broadly of two kinds:

a) disputes of right, which relate to the application or interpretation of existing agreements or contracts of employment;

b) disputes of interest, which relate to claims by employees or proposals by management about terms and, conditions of employment.

8. A procedure for settling collective disputes should be in writing and should:

a) state the level at which an issue should first be raised;

b) lay down time limits for each stage of the procedure, with provision for extension by agreement . c) preclude a strike, lock-out, or other form of industrial action until all stages of the procedure have been completed and a failure to agree formally recorded.

9. The procedure should have the following stages:

a) employee representatives should raise the issue in dispute with the management at the level directly concerned.

b) failing settlement, it should be referred to a higher level within the establishment;

c) if unsettled, it should be referred to further agreed stages, for example, to a stage of an industry wide procedure, or to a higher level within the undertaking.

10. Independent conciliation and arbitration can be used to settle all types of dispute if the parties concerned agree that they should. Arbitration by the Industrial Arbitration Board or other independent arbitrators is particularly suitable for settling disputes of right and its xwider use for that purpose is desirable. Where it is used the parties should undertake to be bound by the award.

Next week. Part IX - Disciplinary Procedures

Publications Committee

This series is taken from HMSO booklet -

Industrial Relations - Code of Practice

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The Art and O.T. Departments are sorry to lose the services of Lynda Cross.

Her cheerful disposition and her arty contributions will be sadly missed.

Good luck on your nursing venture.

B. Naylor

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Regrettably the following article 'went missing' for a whole week. Please accept our apologies for the delay.

Publications Committee

On Wednesday, 9th August 1972 Delph Hospital held its annual Garden Fete for the second time.

The Fete was opened officially by Miss White, C.N.O. of the United Liverpool Group.

After a lot of hard work by the staff and patients over a period of weeks the day dawned, the weather unfortunately was very bad and this kept a lot of people away. Because of the weather a lot of the official programme was abandoned.

At 2.30 the Fete was duly opened and a brisk trade began on the clothing and bakery sections. Everyone seemed to enjoy what was there and their only grumble was the rain, rain, rain. Because of the elements, which was the deciding factor, the Fete closed sooner than planned and we were left with a few items which have been passed on to another worthy cause. The Rev. Nunn seemed to be doing well for coconuts and Miss White left the hospital with a few purchases. All in all, despite the bad weather the Fete went fairly well.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the ancillary staff for all their help and efforts towards making the Fete a success also Mr. Stewart for the flowers on the flower stall. Last but not least I would like to thank all the staff and patients for their marvellous participation and unstinting efforts without whom this project could never have taken place.

Thank you all!!

J. Beck.

P.S. The proceeds at the final check amounted to £128.11 (against last years' £102).

From this figure £50.00 was donated to the Swimming Pool Fund. The rest of the money being allocated towards the Christmas Party for the Day Hospital expenses and a small amount to Delph Patients Social Fund.

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Work Study Part II

Management

The Human Factor. If work study is to contribute seriously to the improvement of Productivity, relations between management and workers must be reasonably good before any attempt is made to introduce it; and the workers must have confidence in the sincerity of management towards them, otherwise they will regard it as another trick to try and get more work out of them without any benefits for themselves.

Because those in authority are mainly concerned with technical and commercial matters, they often forget that the people who work with them, particularly those under them, are as much human beings as they are, subject to the same feelings although they nay not be able to display them openly. The man at the bottom of the ladder, the most humble labourer, resents an injustice, real or imaginary, as much as any other man. He fears the unknown as much or even more, and if the unknown appears to him to offer a threat to his security of employment or to his self-respect then he will resist it, if not openly then by concealed non-co-operation that is only half-hearted.

Work Study is not a substitute for good management and never can be, it is one of the "tools" in the managers tool kit, which can be used as a carpenter uses one of his tools to produce a certain results on a piece of wood. By itself it will not make bad industrial relations good, although, wisely applied, it may often improve them.

A well-conducted work study analysis is ruthlessly systematic, the places where effort and time are being wasted are laid bare one by one; in order to eliminate this waste the causes of it must be looked for. These causes are usually found to be bad planning, bad organisation, insufficient control or lack of proper training of workers. Since members of the management and supervisory staffs are employed to do these things, it will look as if they have failed in their duties. Not only this, but the increases in productivity which the proper use of work study usually brings about further emphasises this failure.

Nobody likes to be made to feel he has failed, especially in the eyes of his superiors. He loses self-confidence and begins to ask himself whether he may not be replaced. His feeling of security is threatened.

At first sight this result of a work study investigation may not seem unfair. Managers, Foremen and Workers generally speaking are honest, hardworking people who do their job as well as they can. If they have failed to obtain the most from the resources at their disposal it is generally because they have not been trained in, and often do not know the value of the systematic approach which work study brings to problems of organisation and performance of work.

If the application of Work Study in an enterprise is to succeed it must have the understanding and the backing of the management at all levels, starting at the top. If the top management does not understand what the work study man is trying to do, and is not giving him his full support, then it cannot be expected that managers lower down will accept and support him. For in any organisation people lower down tend to take their attitudes from the man at the top. Therefore the first group of people to whom the purpose and techniques of work study must be explained is the management group.

J. Shaw.

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WELCOME TO:

Miss B. Dewship		Pre Student
Miss E. C. Angus		Pre Student
Mrs. D. Cullen		Pre Student
Miss F. Tavlin		Nursing Assistant
Mr. J.P. Howard		Pupil
Mrs. J.J. Fance		P/T Staff Nurse

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SOCIAL CLUB NOTE

Bar Staff/Waitresses Required

Please contact Club Secretary Mr. L. Jones.

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