The Secretary of State is getting himself into very great difficulty, for of the four representatives on the Mental Nursing Committee whom he is to appoint one is to be a matron, two are representatives of the registered mental nurses, and the other is to be a doctor, a medical man. The only person not associated with this profession is the medical man, who represents an allied profession. The other four, appointed by the Secretary of State, are a matron and registered mental nurses. The Secretary of State is making tremendous difficulty for himself by saying that the people put on these committees shall be representative of other interests when they are also representative of the nursing profession. The same happens in regard to the very excellent regional training committees. I wish that instead of appointment by the regional hospital board a wider representation were allowed.

Nurses have complained to me about the threat that their registration book may not be available for them at any time to see whether they are on the register, or to see whether other persons purporting to be nurses are on the register. They want to check that and to see that the registration facilities are available to the public and the profession in almost every region. I think this is a very good Bill and a great improvement on the past. If the Secretary of State were so to organise the profession as in London, from the point of view of teaching for both mental and general nursing, in a way to allow nurses to have better opportunities for organisational facilities and elected representatives, he would be doing a good thing for the nursing profession in Scotland.