Matrons are back - and they're making things better. A pilot scheme to bring back matrons onto hospital wards has proved so successful that now 2,000 are working in NHS hospitals and more are to be introduced in Accident and Emergency departments.

Modern matrons are apparently proving to have a wide sphere of influence - reducing complaints from patients and staff alike.

Some have been strict on uniform - so that patients can recognise who is what - cleanliness, care and treatment. They keep nurses on their toes but also fight their corner in the hospital hierarchy.

Anyone who's spent any time lately in NHS hospitals - in which experiences can range from the absolutely brilliant to the totally mind-bogglingly incompetent - could tell you why matrons work well.

It's largely because everyone knows who's in charge. That there is someone who takes responsibility for what's going on and sees that things get done. Otherwise it's so easy for staff to shrug helplessly, say things are nothing to do with them and walk away.

Most organisations work better when people know their responsibilities and know they have to carry them out.

And there's no finer example than the British forces, currently being seen at their best. Yes, we all know stories of pointless exercises. A friend's son on a training course in the RAF before Christmas, for instance, had to unscrew the taps in the bathroom and Brasso the insides. Quite what that did to make him a more effective part of a fighting unit only God and the RAF know.

But if you want a royal funeral with split second co-ordination or a country liberated, you can rely on the forces. Young men are trained and disciplined and put up with conditions that would have the average teenager crying for his mum. There is a clear chain of command, people know what they have to do and they do it.

And usually that's the best way to get things done - for everyone's benefit.

NEVER underestimate the ingenuity of teenage boys.

Eskdale College in Whitby and railway staff on the Esk Valley Line do their best to keep the school train bearable, with a not quite deafening noise level and only a modest sprinkling of crushed crisps and discarded sweetie papers underfoot. There's meant to be a strict ban on food on board and there are "Train Stewards" - fearsome senior girls - who patrol the coaches efficiently and take no prisoners.

But who could legislate for the boys in front of me last Tuesday? They grabbed their friend's bike magazine, ripped it up, then put the bits in their mouths, chewed them nicely and then spat them out at each other across the aisle.

And if they brought in a school rule against that, what would the boys think of next?

Maybe it's best not to go there.

NEW family laws on flexitime means better work/home balance for parents of children under six years old.

They're the easy ones. Wide eyed and innocent. Exhausting, maybe, infuriating, sometimes, but at least when they get impossible you can physically lift them up and remove them from trouble.

Not like teenagers.

It's not the under-fives who bunk off school and spend their days amusing themselves with petty crime. Or experimenting with sex, drugs and bottles of glue.

If the government wanted to make a real difference to society, then they'd give more time off to parents of teenagers.

But I fear that not many parents would take them up on the offer.

Published: 09/04/2003