[Margaret Pilkington]

They keep talking about bringing back the Matron.......but this is a problem that is multi-faceted........and needs to be approached as such.

In the days when Matrons word was law the structure of nursing was different.......the junior nurses did lots of the cleaning jobs......it was the first year student or the cadet who would be given the job of cleaning the locker tops.......we did an awful lot of what was called damp dusting........scrubbing the stainless steel bedpans and cleaning out the ceramic sputum pots.
Things were vastly different.........if Matron said 'jump'......you asked 'how high and how long do you want me to stay up' the student nurses of today would not accept this kind of treatment.......nor should they.