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HOSPITALS AND THE PRESS
39 "
HOSPITALS AND THE PRESS THE Minister of Health has approved the recommendations of a conference of representatives of the medical profession and the press on the routine procedure in hospitals for giving information to the press The conference was about the condition of patients. held under the auspices of the public relations committee of the B.M.A., with Dr. H. Guy Dain as chairman. The recommended routine procedure is as follows : Sickness Cases Information should not be divulged to the press without the consent of the patient beyond the statement that the person named in an inquiry is a patient. Where, however, even this statement would be deleterious to the patient’s interests, his presence in the hospital should not be disclosed without his consent. For example, in certain special hospitals, such as mental hospitals and sanatoria, where the mere admission of the patient implies the nature of the diagnosis, no information should be given to the press without the patient’s consent and that of the doctor in charge, who should satisfy himself that to give the information would not be prejudicial to the patient’s interests. In the case of well-known people (and subject always to the patient’s consent), a brief indication of progress may be given, in terms authorised by the doctor in charge. Where the patient is too ill to give his consent, or is a minor, the consent of the nearest competent relative should be obtained. Accident Cases (a) Individual
cases.-The press should be given, on inquiry -only and at the time of the inquiry or as soon as possible afterwards, the name and address of the patient and a general indication of his condition but not necessarily a diagnosis. The patient’s relatives should, if possible, be informed before any statement is given to the press ; but if it has not been possible to do so, this should be made clear to the press. Further information should be given only with the patient’s consent. Where the patient is too ill to give
his consent, or is a minor, the consent of the nearest competent relative should be obtained. (b) Multiple cases.-In accidents involving a number of people (for example, a railway or air accident) all reasonable steps should be taken to ensure that relatives of the injured have been informed before the publication of names, bearing in mind the necessity of early publication to dispel the anxiety of the next-of-kin of all other persons who were, or might have been, involved in the accident. Further information should be given only with the patient’s consent. Where the patient is too ill to give his consent, or is a minor, the consent of the nearest competent relative should be obtained. Hospitals admitting accident cases should maintain a casualty book or other similar records by reference to which inquiries may be answered. _
General All hospitals should ensure that a sufficiently experienced and responsible officer of the hospital is at all times available, in person or by telephone, to answer press inquiries, and should nominate an officer or officers for this purpose. When dealing with representatives of the press or broadcasting or television authorities who call at hospitals and are unknown to them, such hospital officers are advised to ask to see evidence of accreditation in the form of a document issued by the representative’s newspaper, news agency, photographic news agency, or other authority, or a membership card of the Institute of Journalists or the National Union of Journalists. Telephone inquirers not known to the officer receiving the call can, if necessary, be asked to give a number which can be rung back for the purpose of checking. Satisfactory cooperation between hospitals and the press will depend on the observance of conduct that will promote mutual confidence and good personal relations. Difficulties and misunderstandings should be taken up between the hospitals or board concerned and the national or local press.
A memorandum from the
mending
Ministry of Health,l comhospital authorities,
these recommendations to
states : 1.
H.M.(56)58.
The Minister regards the maintenance of good relations and the promotion of mutual confidence between hospitals and the press as an important aim, to which the obervance of an agreed procedure can usefully contribute. It must in his view be for each hospital authority in the last resort to determine what its action in this matter shall be, whether generally or in a particular case ..."
WORK OF THE KING’S FUND AT the
fifty-ninth annual meeting of King Edward’s Fund for London on June 26, the DUKE OF GLOUCESTER emphasised how many-sided are the Fund’s contacts with the hospitals of London. In 1955, in addition to developing the work of its three staff colleges and its many other activities, the Fund made a series of substantial grants, amounting to over E260,500, to the hospitals. This total included some large grants A grant had been made to the to mental hospitals. Bromley Group Hospital Management Committee for the purchase and equipment of a centre where outpatients with psychiatric disorders could receive treatment, and could join in a wide range of group activities sponsored by a general as distinct from a mental hospital, and carried on with the aid of voluntary help from the surrounding community. The hope was to tide patients over periods of psychiatric illness without entering a mental hospital at all. The Fund’s efforts to help the mental hospitals were being supplemented at the staff colleges by special courses arranged for matrons and chief male nurses, and for sisters and male charge nurses from the mental and mental-deficiency hospitals. A new series of short courses for domestic superintendents from both general and mental hospitals had been started under the auspices of the division of nursing with the help of the National Institute of Houseworkers. There seemed to be ample evidence that they were meeting a real need and were stimulating interest both in the training of domestic staff and in the increased use of labour-saving equipment in the Hospital
hospitals. Lord ASHBURTON, the treasurer, moving the adoption of the accounts for 1955 said that income from securities and properties was about 21,000 more than in the previous year. Annual subscriptions and covenants had increased from E4900 to 5300, and donations from E3100 to E4600. The total from legacies in 1955E52,000-was more than double that of 1954, and once again the Fund had received a donation of f50,000 from the Nuffield Trust for the Special Areas. Sir ERNEST POOLEY, chairman of the management committee, referred to the work of the nursing recruitment service : " Of those who are still prepared for the long training required for full qualification in nursing, possibly a higher proportion than ever seek to enter one or other of the teaching hospitals. As a result, the work of the Fund’s nursing recruitment service in dealing with the disappointed surplus at these hospitals, and trying to persuade them that a good training may be had elsewhere, remains among the most important of its activities." Lord McCoRQuoDALE, chairman of the Hospital .
Administrative Staff
training scheme,
College, remarked that the national operated jointly with Manchester
to be
scheduled to start in the autumn. The for the selection and training of younger officers already in the service who showed real promise, of university graduates, and of other professionally qualified entrants who were attracted to the service as a career and who might be expected to be eligible for future promotion. The Minister of Health and the Secretary of State for Scotland had offered for open competition this year sixteen training posts in hospital administration.
University,
was
arrangements provided
HOSPITALS AND THE PRESS THE Minister of Health has approved the recommendations of a conference of representatives of the medical profession and the press on the routine procedure in hospitals for giving information to the press The conference was about the condition of patients. held under the auspices of the public relations committee of the B.M.A., with Dr. H. Guy Dain as chairman. The recommended routine procedure is as follows : Sickness Cases Information should not be divulged to the press without the consent of the patient beyond the statement that the person named in an inquiry is a patient. Where, however, even this statement would be deleterious to the patient’s interests, his presence in the hospital should not be disclosed without his consent. For example, in certain special hospitals, such as mental hospitals and sanatoria, where the mere admission of the patient implies the nature of the diagnosis, no information should be given to the press without the patient’s consent and that of the doctor in charge, who should satisfy himself that to give the information would not be prejudicial to the patient’s interests. In the case of well-known people (and subject always to the patient’s consent), a brief indication of progress may be given, in terms authorised by the doctor in charge. Where the patient is too ill to give his consent, or is a minor, the consent of the nearest competent relative should be obtained. Accident Cases (a) Individual
cases.-The press should be given, on inquiry -only and at the time of the inquiry or as soon as possible afterwards, the name and address of the patient and a general indication of his condition but not necessarily a diagnosis. The patient’s relatives should, if possible, be informed before any statement is given to the press ; but if it has not been possible to do so, this should be made clear to the press. Further information should be given only with the patient’s consent. Where the patient is too ill to give
his consent, or is a minor, the consent of the nearest competent relative should be obtained. (b) Multiple cases.-In accidents involving a number of people (for example, a railway or air accident) all reasonable steps should be taken to ensure that relatives of the injured have been informed before the publication of names, bearing in mind the necessity of early publication to dispel the anxiety of the next-of-kin of all other persons who were, or might have been, involved in the accident. Further information should be given only with the patient’s consent. Where the patient is too ill to give his consent, or is a minor, the consent of the nearest competent relative should be obtained. Hospitals admitting accident cases should maintain a casualty book or other similar records by reference to which inquiries may be answered. _
General All hospitals should ensure that a sufficiently experienced and responsible officer of the hospital is at all times available, in person or by telephone, to answer press inquiries, and should nominate an officer or officers for this purpose. When dealing with representatives of the press or broadcasting or television authorities who call at hospitals and are unknown to them, such hospital officers are advised to ask to see evidence of accreditation in the form of a document issued by the representative’s newspaper, news agency, photographic news agency, or other authority, or a membership card of the Institute of Journalists or the National Union of Journalists. Telephone inquirers not known to the officer receiving the call can, if necessary, be asked to give a number which can be rung back for the purpose of checking. Satisfactory cooperation between hospitals and the press will depend on the observance of conduct that will promote mutual confidence and good personal relations. Difficulties and misunderstandings should be taken up between the hospitals or board concerned and the national or local press.
A memorandum from the
mending
Ministry of Health,l comhospital authorities,
these recommendations to
states : 1.
H.M.(56)58.
The Minister regards the maintenance of good relations and the promotion of mutual confidence between hospitals and the press as an important aim, to which the obervance of an agreed procedure can usefully contribute. It must in his view be for each hospital authority in the last resort to determine what its action in this matter shall be, whether generally or in a particular case ..."
WORK OF THE KING’S FUND AT the
fifty-ninth annual meeting of King Edward’s Fund for London on June 26, the DUKE OF GLOUCESTER emphasised how many-sided are the Fund’s contacts with the hospitals of London. In 1955, in addition to developing the work of its three staff colleges and its many other activities, the Fund made a series of substantial grants, amounting to over E260,500, to the hospitals. This total included some large grants A grant had been made to the to mental hospitals. Bromley Group Hospital Management Committee for the purchase and equipment of a centre where outpatients with psychiatric disorders could receive treatment, and could join in a wide range of group activities sponsored by a general as distinct from a mental hospital, and carried on with the aid of voluntary help from the surrounding community. The hope was to tide patients over periods of psychiatric illness without entering a mental hospital at all. The Fund’s efforts to help the mental hospitals were being supplemented at the staff colleges by special courses arranged for matrons and chief male nurses, and for sisters and male charge nurses from the mental and mental-deficiency hospitals. A new series of short courses for domestic superintendents from both general and mental hospitals had been started under the auspices of the division of nursing with the help of the National Institute of Houseworkers. There seemed to be ample evidence that they were meeting a real need and were stimulating interest both in the training of domestic staff and in the increased use of labour-saving equipment in the Hospital
hospitals. Lord ASHBURTON, the treasurer, moving the adoption of the accounts for 1955 said that income from securities and properties was about 21,000 more than in the previous year. Annual subscriptions and covenants had increased from E4900 to 5300, and donations from E3100 to E4600. The total from legacies in 1955E52,000-was more than double that of 1954, and once again the Fund had received a donation of f50,000 from the Nuffield Trust for the Special Areas. Sir ERNEST POOLEY, chairman of the management committee, referred to the work of the nursing recruitment service : " Of those who are still prepared for the long training required for full qualification in nursing, possibly a higher proportion than ever seek to enter one or other of the teaching hospitals. As a result, the work of the Fund’s nursing recruitment service in dealing with the disappointed surplus at these hospitals, and trying to persuade them that a good training may be had elsewhere, remains among the most important of its activities." Lord McCoRQuoDALE, chairman of the Hospital .
Administrative Staff
training scheme,
College, remarked that the national operated jointly with Manchester
to be
scheduled to start in the autumn. The for the selection and training of younger officers already in the service who showed real promise, of university graduates, and of other professionally qualified entrants who were attracted to the service as a career and who might be expected to be eligible for future promotion. The Minister of Health and the Secretary of State for Scotland had offered for open competition this year sixteen training posts in hospital administration.
University,
was
arrangements provided