[D] Mrs. Dacre Craven had in 1877 proposed, in a letter laid before Queen Victoria, that a part of the fund of St. Katharine’s Royal Hospital should be devoted to founding a Training Institute for District Nurses of gentle birth, to be called “Queen’s Nurses.”
The central institute was at first connected with St. Katharine’s Royal Hospital, Regent’s Park, an institution which had always been under the patronage of the Queens of England since it was founded by Queen Matilda, the wife of Stephen, at St. Katharine’s Wharf, near the Tower of London. Subsequently the headquarters of the Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Nursing Institute was removed to Victoria Street. Central homes have also been established at Edinburgh, Dublin, and Cardiff, and district homes all over the kingdom are affiliated to the Institute.
The National Association for Providing Trained Nurses for the Sick Poor, in which Miss Nightingale had so deeply interested herself, was affiliated to the Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Institute, but it still has its original headquarters at the Nurses’ Home, 23, Bloomsbury Square, so ably managed by the present Lady Superintendent, Miss Hadden. The Chairman of the Executive Committee is Henry Bonham Carter, Esq., an old friend and fellow worker of Miss Nightingale, while the Hon. Secretary is the Rev. Dacre Craven, Rector of St. Andrew’s, Holborn, whose wife was Miss Florence Lees, the first Superintendent-General of the home and branches, and one of Miss Nightingale’s devoted friends. Her Royal Highness Princess Christian is President of the Association.
There is probably no movement which has spread over the country so rapidly, and which appeals to the goodwill of all classes, as the nursing of the sick poor in their own homes, and its success has been one of the chief satisfactions of Miss Nightingale’s life. She is always eager to hear of fresh recruits being added to the nursing army of the sick poor, and it may prove of interest to quote the regulations issued by the National Association:—
REGULATIONS FOR THE TRAINING OF NURSES FOR THE SICK POOR,
AND THEIR SUBSEQUENT ENGAGEMENT
1. A Nurse desiring to be trained in District Nursing must have previously received at least two years’ training in a large general Hospital, approved by the Committee, and bring satisfactory testimonials as to capacity and conduct.
2. If considered by the Superintendent likely to prove suitable for District Nursing, she will be received on trial for one month. If at the end of that time she is considered suitable, she will continue her course of training, with technical class instruction for five months longer.
3. The Nurse will, at the end of her month of trial, be required to sign an agreement with the Queen Victoria’s Jubilee Institute that she will, for one year from the date of the completion of her District training, continue to work as a District Nurse wherever the District Council of the Queen’s Institute may require her services.
4. While under training, the Nurse will be subject to the authority of the Superintendent of the Training Home, and she must conform to the rules and regulations of the Home. She will be further subject, as to her work, to the inspection of the Inspector of the Queen’s Institute.
5. If, during the time of her training, the Nurse be found inefficient, or otherwise unsuitable, her engagement may, with the consent of the Inspector of the Queen’s Institute, be terminated by the Superintendent of the Training Home, at a week’s notice. In the case of misconduct or neglect of duty she will be liable to immediate dismissal by the Superintendent of the Training Home, with the concurrence of the Inspector of the Queen’s Institute.