§ 22. Sir JOHN LONSDALEasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if the resident medical superintendent of the Peamount Sanatorium has any duties to perform which make it necessary that he should be of the same religion as the majority of the patients; and if the Local Government Board propose that in all similar institutions the choice of the chief medical officer should be decided upon religious grounds?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe answer to both parts of this question is in the negative.
§ 24. Sir J. LONSDALEasked the Chief Secretary for Ireland if he is aware that, although the Peamount Sanatorium has been open for nearly a year, the patients during almost the whole of that time have not been under the charge of a resident medical superintendent who possessed the qualifications prescribed by the Local Government Board to undertake the care and treatment of consumptives; if the Board's approval is necessary to enable a sanatorium to be used for insured persons; and if he has at any time directed the Local Government Board to notify to the Women's National Health Association that the Board would suspend their approval unless and until the management of the institution was placed in the hands of a duly qualified resident medical superintendent?
§ Mr. BIRRELLThe delay in the appointment of a resident medical superintendent for the Peamount Sanatorium has been due to the desire of the, Women's National Health Association that the selection should be made by a fully constituted management committee, including representatives of the county councils which have taken beds in the sanatorium. But from the first when the patients numbered only twenty the institution was in temporary charge of Dr. Joseph Daniell as visiting physician, with a most competent resident Irish lady doctor, Dr. Gaffigan, who as assistant medical officer of health in Huddersfield and Warrington, and as medical officer under the education authority at Enfield, Middlesex, has had a great and varied experience. Dr. Daniell is a tuberculosis expert and is in charge of an important tuberculosis dispensary in Dublin. In view of these provisional arrangements the Local Government Board sanctioned the admission of patients to the institution as required by the provisions of the National Insurance Act of 1911. The authorities of the Women's National Health Association have been most anxious to obtain the services of a resident medical superintendent possessing the necessary medical qualifications with experience in the management of a sanatorium. A considerable number of eligible candidates have now applied, and an election will be held within the next few days, which it is hoped will result in the selection of a suitable person to fill the vacant post.
§ Sir J. LONSDALEIs the right hon. Gentleman aware that the visiting doctor who has been acting up to the 1st of last 2201 month resides eleven miles from the sanatorium, and that he visits the sanatorium only two or three times a week; and does he think it is possible to do justice to the patients of that sanatorium with this scant service?
§ Mr. BIRRELLNo, Sir. We are most desirous to proceed at once to the appointment of a resident medical superintendent, and as one acquainted with the lady doctor in question, I feel sure that no patient suffers from being under her care.