Читать книгу Confessions of a Doctor - Stanley Feldman - Страница 9

The matron’s primary duty was the protection of her nurses and making sure that the patients did what they were told. She wielded great power and even the senior surgeons walked in fear of her. She ruled the wards through her acolytes, the ward sisters. Woe betide any student who crossed the ward sister, he would become a pariah and his life made miserable. Even the consultant could not intercede to save him from Sister’s wrath.

Apart from controlling the day-to-day running of the ward, they made sure the patients received the best possible treatment. They might even question some aspect of a patient’s treatment with the consultant in charge if they felt it was inappropriate. It was they who made sure the ward was properly cleaned and the food was up to standard and that the patients ate the meals provided. They had the power to hire or fire any recalcitrant nurse, maid or orderly. Today, they have lost that power; they work in shifts so that overall responsibility is divided. They have little influence on the performance of the catering and the cleaning staff who are the responsibility of the various management teams.