§ MR. JAMES O'CONNORI beg to ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whether he is aware that the guardians of Shillelagh Union have repeatedly advertised for a trained night nurse for their workhouse infirmary at a salary varying from £30 to £50 a year, with rations and a furnished apartment, and having failed to procure one, they appointed an untrained person as nurse; will he explain why the Local Government Board have twice declined to sanction her appointment on the ground that she had no experience, and have requested the medical officer of the workhouse to requisition the master of the workhouse, under the Nursing Order of 1897, to obtain temporarily a trained nurse, which entails a heavy expense on the ratepayers; and whether, as the guardians maintain that in their small institution a trained night nurse is wholly unnecessary, the Local Government Board will he requested to reconsider their order to the medical officer to have a trained night nurse temporarily appointed.
§ MR. ATKINSON (for Mr. G. W. BALFOUR)The facts as stated in the first and second paragraphs are substantially correct. It appears that there are at present under medical treatment in the infirmary about sixty patients, and the Local Government Board are of opinion that as there is no trained nurse in the workhouse, it is essential for the safety and care of the sick that the night nurse to be appointed should be a properly qualified nurse. The guardians should advertise again, and, if necessary, offer a higher-salary so as to secure the services of a trained nurse, and they should bear in mind that if they appoint a nurse possessing the prescribed qualifications, one half of her salary will be paid from the Local Taxation Fund.