CHAPTER 7
AN ESTIMATE OF THE REQUIREMENTS OF THE PUBLIC AND PRIVATE SECTORS FOR NURSES, THE SUPPLY
TO BE EXPECTED, AND ANY DEFICIENCIES
68. In this chapter, unless otherwise stated, the word nurse is used to cover all ranks of registered nurses, midwives, health visitors, student nurses, auxiliary nurses etc. As in the chapter dealing with requirements for doctors, the approach to the calculation of the requirements for nurses is through the Government service and by means of planning ratios.
69. Present ratios have been calculated for the main Government hospitals by dividing actual bed numbers by actual staff allocations, plus an 18 per cent allowance for leave and sickness. (An Organization and Methods report, OSU/11/32/03/5, shows how this figure is reached). The ratios are as follows:
Ratios of Hospital Beds to Nurses
Specialty
Queen Elizabeth
Queen Mary
Castle
Kowloon
Peak
Medical and Paediatric
2.25
1.98
2.01
Surgical and Gyn.*
1.70
1.36
1.83
1.43
1.18
2.71
0.76
2.32
6.1
Maternity
...
T.B. Psychiatry
* Includes operating theatre staff.
70. For nurses in clinics the ratios have been calculated in terms of nurses per doctor. (There is no need in this case to make allowance for leave, etc., as this is already included in calculating the number of doctors.) Using actual nurse allocations and actual doctors the following results are obtained:
General OPD General Specialties
E.N.T.
M.C.H.
Social Hygiene Psychiatric
Eye
T.B.
Specialty
Nurses per Doctor
* For Sai Ying Pun only.
71. Certain adjustments to these figures are necessary.
1.71
0.48*
1.29
5.57
2.39
6.30
6.36
1.93
(a) Medical and Paediatric. The overall ratio for planning purposes should be about 2.19 as suggested in the Johnson* report. The Queen Mary Hospital ratio is lower because of the specialist element of the teaching hospital, and the Kowloon Hospital ratio is lower because of the high proportion of less productive auxiliary and pupil auxiliary nurses. In the Oxford region of the United Kingdom the equivalent ratio is 1.9 but this is lower because of a shorter working week (40 hours).
(b) Surgical and Gynaecological (including operating theatre staff). A ratio of 1.8 would be suitable for planning. Again the Queen Mary Hospital ratio is lower, probably because of the teaching element. The Johnson report suggests 1.81 and the comparable figure for the Oxford region is about 1.7.
(c) Maternity ratio should be about the average of the present ratios, i.e., 1.3. The comparative figure in the Johnson report is 1.3 and at Oxford 1.0.
(d) T.B. ratios are satisfactory.
(e) Infectious diseases and leprosy ratios should be similar to those
for general medical beds.
(f) Psychiatry ratios are at present far too high at Castle Peak Hospital and, as a result, treatment standards suffer. The present
* Review of Nursing Requirements at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital-July 1971.
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