Incidence of middle ear disease in serving soldiers.

4. The Employment of Non-Medical Officers In order to reduce the load of administrative work done by Medical Officers, non-medical officers of the Medical Service Corps are employed on a somewhat wider scale than in the R.A.M.C. For instance, the keeping of mess accounts and auditing thereof are done by them as part of their duties. The spectacle of a specialist wrestling with mess accounts far into the night, in a seemingly hopeless attempt to get things to halance by the morrow, is now a thing of the past. The employment of civilian clerks, cleaners and technicians must also be mentioned. A high proportion of such vacancies on establishment are purposely filled by civilians. This has the important effects of maintaining continuity and a high standard of efficiency and gives a more professional air to hospitals. The frequent changes of personnel so common in every Military Hospital are thus not· allowed to upset departmental efficiency as there are always permanent civilian employees still there to carry on. Also the practice of posting trainee technicians or general duty orderlies to fill vacancies on establishments is largely overcome, because there are fewer vacancies to fill. It could be argued that under this system there must be a ~hortage of trained military clerks and technicians in the event of an emergency. In such an event there is always a severe shortage of every type of tradesmen, and deficiencies have either to be made up by call-up of civilians or by rapid training methods as required. It is satisfactory to observe that there is a general feeling of pride and satisfaction felt by members of the U.S.A.M.C. in their Corps and in what has been achieved.