Charlotte Eliza Bentley

MBE Mbe may refer to: * Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo * Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria * Mbe language, a language of Nigeria * Mbe' language, language of Cameroon * ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language Molal ...

(5 December 1915 – 20 March 1996) was a British nurse and nursing activist. She raised the status of nurses as part of the British nursing history. She had them established as students during training and established State Enrolled Nurses as not just "assistant nurses".

Life

Bentley was born in 63 Portland Court on

Great Portland Street Great Portland Street in the West End of London links Oxford Street with Albany Street and the A501 Marylebone Road and Euston Road. A commercial street including some embassies, it divides Fitzrovia, to the east, from Marylebone to the west. ...

, London in 1915. Her parents were John and Charlotte and her father worked as a hosier. She began to work at the

Royal Free Hospital The Royal Free Hospital (also known simply as the Royal Free) is a major teaching hospital in the Hampstead area of the London Borough of Camden. The hospital is part of the Royal Free London NHS Foundation Trust, which also runs services at Barn ...

in London. She was training to be a nurse, but the training was frequently work. She rose to lead the British Student Nurses' Association and she successfully campaigned to have trainee nurses to be called students until they passed their state registration exams and became SRNs

State Registered Nurse Nursing in the United Kingdom has a long history. The current form of nursing is often considered as beginning with Florence Nightingale who pioneered modern nursing. Nightingale initiated formal schools of nursing in the United Kingdom in the l ...

s. She moved from the teaching hospital to join Lambeth General Hospital as a sister in charge in 1948. By this time the 1943 Nurses' Act had been passed and a new type of nurse a "State Enrolled Nurse (SEN)" was now recognised. These nurses were seen as second class nurses whereas Bentley saw them as more practical versions and not so theoretical as a State Registered Nurse. Bentley was elected to lead the "National Association of State Enrolled ''Assistant'' Nurses" as General Secretary despite being a SRN rather than a SEN nurse. Her first years wage had to be met bu an appeal to members as she resolved conflicts between hospital managers and the undervalued SEN nurses. Her organisation organised holidays for nurses irrespective of their qualification. Bentley worked with

Irene Ward Irene Mary Bewick Ward, Baroness Ward of North Tyneside, (23 February 1895 – 26 April 1980) was a British Conservative Party politician. She was a long-serving female Member of Parliament (MP), the longest serving female Conservative MP in his ...

who was a member of parliament for

Tynemouth Tynemouth () is a coastal town in the metropolitan borough of North Tyneside, North East England. It is located on the north side of the mouth of the River Tyne, hence its name. It is 8 mi (13 km) east-northeast of Newcastle upon T ...

and a

private member's bill A private member's bill is a bill (proposed law) introduced into a legislature by a legislator who is not acting on behalf of the executive branch. The designation "private member's bill" is used in most Westminster system jurisdictions, in whi ...

, the "Nurses (Amendment) Act, 1961", passed through parliament to remove the demeaning "assistant" from the SEN's job title. In 1973 the Royal College of Nursing set up a joint committee with the

Royal College of General Practitioners The Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP) is the professional body for general (medical) practitioners (GPs/Family Physicians/Primary Care Physicians) in the United Kingdom. The RCGP represents and supports GPs on key issues including l ...

to try and improve understanding in their professions. The committee consisted of a secretary, four doctors (all men) and five women who were all nurses. Bentley died in 1996 after suffering with Parkinson's in the

London Borough of Camden The London Borough of Camden () is a London borough in Inner London. Camden Town Hall, on Euston Road, lies north of Charing Cross. The borough was established on 1 April 1965 from the area of the former boroughs of Hampstead, Holborn, and St ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bentley, Charlotte 1915 births 1996 deaths Nurses from London British women nurses English women activists Members of the Order of the British Empire