British Hospitals Association

The British Hospitals Association was established by Henry Burdett in 1884.[1]

In 1887 it established a register of trained nurses for those who could show that they had worked for at least a year in a hospital or an infirmary and had been trained in the duties of a nurse.

It ran a Nurses Co-operative in the early years of the twentieth century which employed 500 nurses and had a turnover of £50,000 a year.[2]

Sir Arthur Stanley was chairman in 1924.[3]

Bernard Docker was the chairman in 1941[4] and represented them on the Nurses Salaries Committee chaired by Lord Rushcliffe which published two reports in 1943[5][6]. There were five other British Hospitals Association representatives on the Committee Muriel M Edwards, S Clayton Fryers of Leeds General Infirmary, Gilbert G Panter, J P Wetenhall, and S P Richardson (who was replaced by L Farrer Brown).

The Association was involved in discussions about the organisation of the future National Health Service, particularly about the regional hospital boards.[7] It supported the objective of a free comprehensive health service, but warned that transfer of ownership of hospitals would lead to autocratic bodies taking the place of locally elected committees.[8]

References

1. Rivett, Geoffrey. "Biographical notes on Sir Henry Burdett, 1847-1920". NHS History. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
2. Abel-Smith, Brian (1960). A History of the Nursing Profession. London: Heinemann. p. 59.
3. "British Hospitals Association". British Medical Journal. 28 June 1924. p. 1137. PMC 2304600.
4. "British Hospitals Association". British Medical Journal: 644. 8 November 1941. Retrieved 6 June 2017.
5. First Report Of Nurses Salaries Committee Salaries And Emoluments Of Female Nurses In Hospitals. London: HMSO. 1943.
6. 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.
7. Webster, Charles (1988). The Health Services Since the War. London: HMSO. p. 23. ISBN 978-0116309426.
8. "Report of meeting with British Hospitals Association on National Health Service Bill, 25 April 1946". Warwick Digital Collections. 15 May 1946. Retrieved 10 November 2022.