HC Deb 23 February 1916 vol 80 cc688-9
37. Mr. KING

asked the Secretary of State for the Home Department whether any further facilities are being offered to the War Office by the Lunacy Commission for the accommodation and treatment of nerve-shaken soldiers; and whether the building of any new asylum or other lunatic institution is now either in progress or contemplation?

The UNDER-SECRETARY of STATE for the HOME DEPARTMENT (Mr. Brace)

I am informed that no further facilities are being offered through the Board of Control for the accommodation and treatment of nerve-shaken soldiers, as no further accommodation can be spared. At the request of the War Office, the completion of the new Hampshire Asylum at Park Prewett is being expedited with a view to its being equipped and staffed by the military authorities as a temporary war hospital.

38. Mr. KING

asked whether the Lunacy Board of Control has at present any super vision over the Maundsley County Asylum at Denmark Hill; and whether the asylum authorities are responsible for the treatment of nerve-shaken soldiers who, being still under the Army Act, are within the precincts of any lunatic institution?

Mr. BRACE

The Board of Control do not exercise supervision over any military hospitals. Visits that they have for many years paid to a special section of Netley Hospital and more recently to temporarily-adapted hospitals for nerve-shaken soldiers—within which category Maundsley Hospital fall—have been made at the request of the military authorities. The responsibility for the treatment of the soldiers in question rests entirely with the military authorities, and not with any asylum authorities.