§ DR. THOMPSONTo ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he is aware that, by the arrangements enforced by the Local Government Board for Ireland in their Nursing Circulars, the Irish county hospitals are not recognised as training schools, and nurses trained in these institutions are debarred from occupying the position of charge nurses for district hospitals; and whether, in view of the experience of leading physicians and surgeons in this matter, and of the fact that nurses so trained are 437 recognised as trained nurses in Great Britain and by the English Local Government Board, he will take steps to abrogate the rule in Ireland.
(Answered by Mr. Walter Long.) Many of the Irish county hospitals are recognised as training schools for nurses, and the Local Government Board regard as "qualified nurses" parsons who have obtained certificates of proficiency from these institutions. In order to encourage the appointment of at least one qualified nurse in each Irish workhouse, it is provided by Section 58 of the Local Government Act of 1898 that one-half of the salary of such nurse shall be recouped from the local taxation account; and to insure that none but nurses of high qualifications should obtain these appointments, the Board only recognise the certificates of general clinical or other hospitals where there is a good teaching staff and a large number of beds available for instruction. The present arrangement has been found to work satisfactorily, and has received the approval of the medical profession generally.