Nursing Council

At a meeting of the National Medical Committee on 15 June 1938, a Nursing Council was formed to advise the committee on all matters pertaining to army and civilian nursing in time of war, and to link up the activities of the Red Cross Society of New Zealand and the Order of St. John as far as the training of Voluntary Aid Detachments, both male and female, was concerned. The Council was composed of the Director, Division of Nursing, Health Department (Miss M. I. Lambie), the Matron-in-Chief, New Zealand Army Nursing Service (Miss I. G. Willis), and a representative of page 17 the matrons of public hospitals (Miss L. M. Banks, of Palmerston North). In September 1938 the Nursing Council submitted a draft report to the Medical Committee covering the enrolment and organisation of the registered nurses in the Dominion in the event of a national emergency. On 24 February 1939 the members of the Nursing Council, together with one representative each from the New Zealand Red Cross Society and the Order of St. John, met as the Voluntary Aid Detachment Council and gave consideration to the organisation of Voluntary Aid Detachments, and to the training necessary for these detachments.