Sir, – Nursing is still a vocation and in the writer’s opinion will always be so. We are about to build a new children’s hospital of 400 beds. It will replace the existing three children’s hospitals in Dublin. No doubt it will be an imposing and a magnificent edifice, a showpiece for the country.
Nevertheless, its success will depend on the service that can be provided by its staffing, nursing and medical professionals. As your paper frequently points out, difficulties over working conditions do arise between the nursing profession and the health departments from time to time. Nursing of the acutely ill is extremely hard work. It is the continuous professional care of another human that makes it difficult to evaluate. One cannot really pay for such service, in my opinion.
Today’s hospital nurses are in general overworked and underpaid. Most important to them is not just the remuneration, but recognition of their professional work. This new, very large children’s hospital will require an enormous number of nurses, and now is the time to plan for this. If we do not, we will find that when they are required they will not be available. – Yours, etc,