Nurse Elizabeth Grace Neill

What do we live for if not to make life less difficult for each other?

GEORGE ELIOT

Elizabeth Grace Neill ( 1846 -  1926) was a nurse from New Zealand who lobbied for passage of laws requiring training and registration of nurses and midwives in New Zealand. Neil was back in health care upon the establishment of the New Zealand’s Department of Health, creating a nursing service. 1901 came, and Neil got the privilege of helping draft a bill aimed to protect the public from nursing malpractice for New Zealand Parliament, one that became the world’s first Nurses’ Registration Act. Soon after, the Midwives’ Registration Act was passed and Neil was given the task of setting up the very first state maternity hospital, the St. Helen’s Hospital, which opened in 1905 and followed by 3 more in a span of 2 years. Elizabeth Grace Neil’s thorough knowledge of the technicalities of nursing profession made her a crucial personality in the international nursing politics.

Alexander Turnbull Library, National Library of New Zealand

1890

https://teara.govt.nz/files/large_images/n015-neill-elizabeth-grace-atl-1.jpg

Source: Elizabeth Grace Neill. (2012, May 8). In Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved October 9, 2012, from http://bit.ly/UcNqx5

National Library of New Zealand

Alexander Turnbull Library

Medium: Photograph

English

Figures

Elizabeth Grace Neill, New Zealand, Nursing, Healthcare

New Zealand