HC Deb 12 June 1896 vol 41 cc961-2
MR. C. J. ENGLEDOW (Kildare, N.)

I beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, how many patients were treated in the County Carlow Infirmary during the last five years, and how many of them were treated on the written order of a governor, as directed by the law which established these institutions?

THE HON. MEMBER

also asked the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, whether, when he stated that 90 per cent. of the patients treated in the County Carlow Infirmary were poor and destitute, he referred only to patients who were actually received into the institution for medical care and treatment, or did he also include those persons who attended at the dispensary in the morning, and who were not actually received into the institution; would he also state whether he included in the 90 per cent, of poor and destitute the domestic and other servants of the local gentry; and, by what authority the governors of the institution use the public funds, which are provided by law solely for treatment of the poor and destitute, for the medical care and treatment of a large proportion of the patients who they acknowledge are not poor and destitute?

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

In reply to this and the next following Question, the number of persons treated in the infirmary during the last five years was 4,647. It cannot be stated how many of these were admitted on the written order of a governor. The reference to 90 per cent, of the patients treated included persons actually received into the institution for medical care and treatment. The proportion of domestic servants treated in the institution is small; none of this class are treated at the cost of the public except the poor. The remaining 10 per cent. comprised police constables and others who paid for their treatment. The rules of admission are the same as in all similar institutions.

MR. ENGLEDOW

asked if the right hon. Gentleman was not aware that it was law that nobody should be admitted except the poor of the district.

MR. GERALD BALFOUR

said he should inquire further into the matter, but he imagined that it was not so.