§ MR. CULLINAN (Tipperary, S.)To ask the Chief Secretary to the Lord-Lieutenant of Ireland if he will state what proofs of efficient teaching, of efficient examining, and of the possession of adequate matériel and of a capable and industrious staff, do the Local Government Board require before sanctioning any hospital for the training of nurses, whether trained or merely qualified; and whether they would take the medical profession generally into their confidence on those points.
(Answered by Mr. Birrell.) Under the Local Government Board's Nursing Order, 1901, a trained nurse means any person who has resided for not less than two years in a general clinical or other hospital recognised by the Board, and who, after examination, has obtained from such hospital a certificate of proficiency in nursing; and the term qualified nurse means any person, who, after examination, has obtained a certificate of proficiency in nursing from any (1) public general hospital, or (2) workhouse in firmary and fever hospital, or (3) nursing institution, that may be recognised by the Board as an efficient school for medical and surgical nurses. The Board require as evidence of the due training or Qualification of a nurse, the production of the original certificate of proficiency from a recognised hospital. Before recognising for the purpose in question any hospital other than a general clinical hospital the Board make careful inquiries respecting such hospital. The Board have always received and welcomed assistance from the medical profession, both as regards the general question of 402 recognition of the training of nurses and as regards the capacity for teaching of any particular hospital. It may be added that a general clinical hospital is one recognised by examining bodies for the instruction of medical students.