§ MR. MORTON (Sutherland)I beg to ask the Secretary of State for War whether he proposes to make reductions in the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service, seeing that the numbers employed in military hospitals are far in excess of the requirements of the sick, and that much public money could be thereby saved.
§ MR. HALDANEThe establishment of the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service was fixed to provide for the efficient nursing of the sick in military hospitals at home and abroad, and to establish in connection with these hospitals nurse training schools for the men of the Royal Army Medical Corps. Increased responsibilities in both respects have been delegated to the nursing service. The distribution of the staffs has been decided upon by the civil matrons of the Nursing Board, and all matters relating to Army nursing form the subjects of recommendation by that Board, and is not, in the opinion of my expert advisers, in excess of the requirements. It must be remembered that the standards of the medical care and treatment which are requisite for the sick have risen during the last few years, and that the improvement is resulting not only in more humane methods, but in a saving of public money which is not less substantial because it is indirect.