§ MR. M'CARTANI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether his attention has been called to the last Report of the Inspectors of Lunatic Asylums in Ireland, in which reference is made to the state of the Lunacy Department of the Belfast workhouse; whether more than one-third of the 1,324 lunatics confined in union workhouses in Ulster are inmates of the Belfast Workhouse; whether, notwithstanding the improvement in the less frequent use of mechanical restraint, in consequence of the protest of the Inspectors in the previous year, there is still a great number subjected to such restraint; whether he is aware that the only entry of mechanical restraint is on the patients' bed cards, whereas in asylums the law requires a register of such entries to be kept; whether there is any legal sanction for restraint in such cases in workhouses; whether he is aware that, contrary to all modern treatment, there are 81 epileptics constantly confined to their beds, where they must brood over their disease; 1536 whether the medical superintendent of the county asylum notifies to the coroner the death of every patient and the cause thereof; whether such a practice is observed in the lunatic department of the workhouse; and, if not, will he inquire if a similar notice can be given to the coroner as to deaths of lunatics there; whether he is aware of the crowded state of this department, and of the serious deficiency of bath, lavatory, and water-closet accommodation; and whether the lunatics all sleep in the lunatic department; if not, how many of them have to sleep in the body of the workhouse?
§ MR. ASQUITH (for Mr. J. MORLEY)My attention has been drawn to the last Report of the Inspectors of Lunatic Asylums in Ireland, in which reference is made to the lunacy department of the Belfast Workhouse. As regards the use of mechanical restraint, there is no legal sanction for its application to patients in workhouses. It is to be remembered that lunatics are admitted to workhouses not as lunatics but as destitute persons, and, apart from the question of the suitability of workhouses as places of reception for the mentally afflicted, it is to be observed that the Local Government Board possess very insufficient powers to compel Boards of Guardians to make adequate provision for the care and treatment of the insane under their charge. Of the 81 persons suffering from epileptic insanity or idiocy in the lunacy department of the Belfast Workhouse on December 31 last, 19 were, I understand, constantly confined to bed, and it is believed that patients of this class are allowed to remain in bed in. workhouses when it would be much better that they should be encouraged or compelled to get up and move about. In every case of death in district asylums I he coroner is notified of the death and cause of same, but the same practice does, not exist in the insane departments of workhouses. I see no reason, however,, why this course should not be adopted in workhouses, and the Local Government Board will issue instructions with a view to such notices being given to the coroner in future by their medical officer. The Inspectors of Lunatic Asylums draw attention in their Report to the want of bath and lavatory accommodation in the Belfast Workhouse. The lunatics in this institution do not all sleep in the lunatic department at present; 52 of them sleep in a portion of the infirmary which is an 1537 adjoining building;. These cases, although insane, are all of a harmless character. In Belfast the Guardians have spent large sums in endeavouring to provide accommodation for the use of the insane, and the Inspectors of Lunatic Asylums hear strong testimony to their efforts to provide for the wants of lunatics received into the workhouse. An extension of the lunacy department of the workhouse is at present being carried out, and when completed the patients now located at night in the body of the house will be properly accommodated in their own department.
§ MR. SEXTON (Kerry, N.)Is there any power to direct the Governors in building a new asylum to provide accommodation for all these persons now detained in workhouses? Is the systematic violation of the law now going on to be permitted?
§ MR. ASQUITHI must ask for notice of that question.