Minutes of the Royal College of Nursing Council meetings

Scope and Content

Meetings were held quarterly in January, April, August and October. They are arranged in the following order: minutes of the previous meeting, minutes of current meeting, agenda of current meeting, papers of current meeting.

Items addressed at every meeting are: the location of the meeting, attendees and apologies, matters arising, correspondence, Congress, membership matters, reports from committees, reports from national boards, use of the seal, membership numbers.

During 1968 the topics discussed by Council include:

National Association of State Enrolled Nurses (NASEN)

Shortage of tutors

Size of Council

Memorial to Dame Sarah Swift

Study of welfare of nurses in need

Periodical medical examination of senior staff

Student nurses association within the RCN - the SNA became an official part of the RCN on 1 October 1968

Post-registration clinical courses for nurses

Registration of clinical instructors

Nurses' uniform

Nursing recruitment service

Age of entry to nurse training

Care of the elderly

Nurses and midwives Whitley council

Indexed.

This record relates to two separate sets of minutes: the original set is signed. This volume is kept in Store B.

The other set is a copy of the original. This volume is kept in Store A.

Access Information

This collection is available for research. Readers are advised to contact the RCN Archives in advance of their first visit.

Other Finding Aids

Most recent online Royal College of Nursing Archives Catalogue is available at http://www.rcn.org.uk/development/library_and_heritage_services.

Conditions Governing Use

Royal College of Nursing

Custodial History

The main bulk of volumes came from London library historical collection to Edinburgh with the Archives' collections in 1992. Library maintained a copy set. From 1992 up until 2009 the papers were transferred directly by Council and Committee Admin (previously 'General Secretariat', or 'General Secretary's Office') One copy went to RCN Library for binding and the original to Archives, unbound. In January 2017 the two sets were brought together to create one full run of papers and an additional run, with copies of most years. The more complete set is held in Store A and the less complete set in Store B.