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Editorial Comment EDITORIAL COMMENTLike the Queen, although for different reasons, The Standard has two birthdays. Our real one has passed quietly by; our 'official' one will be the occasion of Volume 3 No. 1. Any little gift you would care to send along, like a contribution, will be greatly appreciated. No 'Get well soon' cards, please.* * * *AROUND THE HOSPITALProfessional HourMr. W. A. Wilson, Consultant Surgeon to the Warrington Hospital Group, was the speaker at the Professional Hour for ward sisters and charge nurses held in the In-Service Training Room on Thursday, June 21. The subject discussed was "The Organisation of Cogwheel", an explanation of the Report on the Organisation of Medical Work in Hospitals, commonly known as the Cogwheel Report. Mr. Wilson said that the recommendations embodied in the Report were at present being implemented in the Warrington Group. Last April, when amalgamation of local hospitals took place, an Interim Committee had been set up on the lines recommended in the Report. This was the present Medical Executive Committee, and Mr. Wilson had been elected Chairman. He saw the purpose of the re-organisation of the medical staffing as providing a more efficient, integrated service to the patient. He explained that, in the nursing and administrative areas, a pyramidal management structure existed. In the medical field this was not the case. As all consultants are held to be equal, and responsible only to the patient, it was difficult to provide effective medical management under the traditional system. "Cogwheel" recommended the formation of a Medical Executive Committee, comprising a consultant from each Division within the Group, with one consultant elected 'primus inter pares' as chairman of the Committee. The Chief Nursing Officer and the Group Secretary would also be members of this Committee. Thus, not only would each specialty be represented, but there would also be direct access to the nursing and administrative areas. It was also proposed that a General Practitioner would be a member, to anticipate 1974. Mr. Wilson went 'on to list the seven Divisions which have now been formed in the Group. These are:-
PC* * * *ROUND THE N.H.S.H.A.S. Annual ReportIn their report covering 1972 the H.A.S. lay stress on a continuing gap between theory and practice in nursing communications, even in hospitals where Salmon schemes have been implemented for several years. Mental illness hospitals are highlighted in this area. Suggesting that better multi-disciplinary consultation at ward level could help overcome this problem, the report notes that nurses appear to need constant encouragement to express their ideas constructively, and at junior level are not sufficiently assertive in their roles within multi-disciplinary teams. Praising those hospitals which run effective community nursing services, the H.A.S. report says that they are attracting staff who are likely to refrain from applying for jobs in hospitals known to be 'backward' in this respect. It adds, 'Understaffing is less a matter of geography, which cannot be altered, but often one of staff attitudes which should be capable of modification'. In both the geriatric and mental handicap services, shortage of staff, lack of training and overcrowding lead often to 'insoluble problems of patient care'. On a brighter note Dr. Baker, the H.A.S. director, finds that the increased physical resources devoted to long-stay hospitals are beginning to show their effects, but is impelled to conclude that 'in some areas there is not the equivalent change in attitudes or in the skilled use of human resources that is necessary'.PCCowley HillThe run-down of Cowley Hill Maternity Hospital, St. Helens will be completed next month when the new maternity unit at Whiston opens. All new patients from St. Helens will be sent to Whiston, and the staff will be offered alternative jobs in the hospital group. Cowley Hill is to be considered as a possible headquarters for the new St. Helens-Knowsley area health authority.PC* * * *IN THE GROUPSpeaking at the inaugural meeting of the Warrington and District Mental Health Association last week, Mr. David Ennals praised the move to rent a new, nine-person house at Longbarn for mental hospital patients who can be discharged but are without a family to go back to. 'We need more group homes and boarding-out themes', he said. And he quoted figures which showed that already more working days are lost through mental illness than through accidents and colds/flu put together.PC* * * *LETTERS TO THE EDITOROn arriving in the Library one morning, we had the misfortune to discover that the roof had caved in. The accumulated dirt was nobody's business. After Peter had repaired the damage. on seeking the Domestic Superintendent's help, there arrived four charming ladies - namely Domestic SupervisorsMrs. Hughes Thanks
Would you kindly express my most sincere thanks to all the staff at Winwick Hospital who have made my stay here such a happy one. Special thanks to the Sister and staff of Ward 14, also to everyone who made my leaving evening such a memorable occasion, the Entertainments Committee of the Staff Social Club for their kind gifts, and to all others for their gifts too numerous to mention.
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