doing the laundry, cleaning brass work or cleaning the floor. The matron also checked that all students were dressed in the way the uniform policy stated as well as having them make their beds in the same way as hospital beds. The National Health Service matron became memorably associated with the formidable character in the film Carry On Nurse in 1959 and Carry On Doctor in 1963 (and gentler portrayals in Carry On Again Doctor and Carry On Matron) and played by Hattie Jacques. The matron usually had a very distinctive uniform, with a dark blue dress (although often of a slightly different colour from those worn by her direct subordinates, the sisters) and an elaborate headdress. Contemporary matrons In 2001 the British Government announced the return of the matron to the NHS, electing to call this new breed of nurses "modern matrons," in response to various press complaints of dirty, ineffective hospitals with poorly disciplined staff. They are not intended to have the same level of responsibility as the old matrons, as they often oversee just one department (therefore a hospital may have many matrons—one for surgery, one for medicine, one for geriatrics, one for the Emergency department, etc.) but do have budgetary control regarding catering and cleaning contracts. In larger hospitals some will have a group of wards to manage. Their managerial powers are more limited, and they spend most of their time on administrative work rather than having direct responsibility for patient care. Many areas of the UK now employ Community Matrons. The role of this staff group is predominantly Clinical and these Matrons have a caseload of patients for whom they are clinically responsible. Many of these patients have chronic health conditions such as COPD, Emphysema, and/or palliative conditions which result in multiple hospital admissions. It is the aim of this staff group to treat the patient within the community thereby limiting hospital admissions. This staff group are predominantly Nurses, but there are other Allied Health Professionals also in the role such as Paramedics and Occupational Therapists. The nursing branches of the British Armed Forces have never abandoned the term "Matron", and it is used for male as well as female officers, usually holding the rank of Major (or equivalent) or above. It was formerly used as an actual rank in the nursing services. In South Africa and its former mandated territory South-West Africa (today's Namibia),