Nurses Salaries Committee Explained

Henry Betterton, 1st Baron Rushcliffe or Rushcliffe, as he was now known, was appointed by Ernest Brown (British politician) the minister of health to chair the Nurses Salaries Committee which was established in October 1941.^[1] It was the first official body to fix salary scales and conditions for nursing in England.

The committee consisted of two panels, each of twenty formidable members, one panel representing employers, the other employees

The employers panel consisted of the:

• British Hospitals Association (in association with King Edward's Hospital Fund for London and the Nuffield Trust) 6 seats Bernard Docker, Muriel M Edwards, S Clayton Fryers (Leeds General Infirmary), Gilbert G Panter, J P Wetenhall, S P Richardson (who was replaced by L Farrer Brown);
• County Councils Association 4 seats W A Bullough, W B Cartwright, Wynne Cemlyn-Jones, T O Steventon;
• Association of Municipal Corporations 4 seats Cyril Banks, J Lythgoe, GW Martin, EC Parr;
• London County Council 3 seats John William Bowen, W Allen Daley, Somerville Hastings;
• Urban District Councils Association 1 seat Luther Bouch;
• Rural District Councils Association 1 seat E A Cross;
• Queen's Institute of District Nursing 1 seat Elena Richmond.^[2]

The employees panel consisted of the

• Royal College of Nursing 9 seats Irene H Charley, I B Clunas, Frances Goodall, Gladys Hillyers, M F Hughes, E O Jackson, Florence Taylor, Marianne Wenden, Mercy Wilmshurst;
• Trades Union Congress 5 seats Dorothy M Elliott, George Gibson (trade unionist), Hilda M Gray, Arthur Moyle, Baron Moyle, Doris E Westmacott;
• National Association of Local Government Officers (NALGO) 3 seats - H Allen, A G Bolton, C A W Roberts;
• Royal British Nurses' Association 1 seat Isabel MacDonald (later D G. Tilby);
• British College of Nurses 1 seat;
• Association of Hospital Matrons 1 seat Helen Dey.
• A parallel committee was set up in Scotland, alongside the creation of a Nursing Division in the Ministry of Health, UK in 1941.^[3]

The committee published two reports in 1943^{[4] [5]} .

• The First Report Of Nurses Salaries Committee Salaries And Emoluments Of Female Nurses In Hospitals was published by HMSO in 1943.
• Second Report of Nurses Salaries Committee Salaries and Emoluments of Male Nurses, Public Health Nurses, District Nurses And State Registered Nurses In Nurseries was published by HMSO in December 1943.

Notes and References

1. Book: Abel-Smith . Brian . A History of the Nursing Profession . 1960 . Heinemann . London . 167.
2. 25 Oct 1941 . Topical Notes . Nursing Times . 37 . 1904.
3. Book: McGann, Susan . A History of the Royal College of Nursing: 1916-1990 - A Voice for Nurses . Manchester University Press . 2009 . 0719077966.
4. Book: First Report Of Nurses Salaries Committee Salaries And Emoluments Of Female Nurses In Hospitals . HMSO . 1943 . London.
5. Book: Second Report of Nurses Salaries Committee Salaries and Emoluments of Male Nurses, Public Health Nurses, District Nurses And State Registered Nurses In Nurseries . HMSO . 1943.