HC Deb 18 June 1918 vol 107 cc159-61
21. Mr. PENNEFATHER

asked the Under-Secretary for War if he will remove the cause of much doubt and difficulty by giving strict orders that the discharge certificates of all men discharged as surplus to military requirements or to take up employment in civil life shall clearly show under which paragraph of the King's Regulations they are discharged, in order that there may be no dispute as to whether they are discharged as impaired or as unimpaired men, and may be properly dealt with accordingly?

Mr. MACPHERSON

Under existing instructions the paragraph and sub-paragraph of the King's Regulations are shown on the discharge documents and discharge certificate of a soldier. If my hon. Friend has any case in mind in which this has not been done, I shall be pleased if he will furnish me with particulars.

Mr. HOGGE

Is my right hon. Friend aware that when the discharge is put on paragraph 25 many of those discharged soldiers lose their opportunity of getting work on account of the unsatisfactory nature of their discharge?

Mr. MACPHERSON

That may be so, but if my hon. Friend has any such cases he had better give them to me, and I will inquire into them.

Mr. HOGGE

I have sent you quite a number.

Mr. MACPHERSON

I have not seen them.

44. Colonel ASHLEY

asked the Minister of Pensions why two disabled and discharged soldiers have been sent for treatment to the Bath workhouse infirmary; and who is responsible for the action which has been taken?

The PARLIAMENTARY SECRETARY to the MINISTRY of PENSIONS (Sir A. Griffith-Boscawen)

I have made full inquiry into both these cases. In the one case the man admitted to the infirmary had been discharged from the Army in May, 1917, as being totally incapacitated by organic paralysis. Since that date he has twice been re-admitted to hospital, but on each occasion was discharged after a very short time as incurable. He has latterly been at home under the care of his wife, drawing total disablement pension and attendant's allowance. At the beginning of the present month his wife reported to the local committee that she was ill and could not give her husband the attention which he urgently needed, and asked that he might be removed to the infirmary, to which he was willing to go. As it appeared that no local hospital would take the case, the committee felt constrained to adopt this course as a temporary measure pending arrangements for admission to a more suitable institution. These arrangements have now been made, and the man has been removed from the infirmary. The second case was that of a man discharged for a wound in the right side. While he was under treatment for the wound, mental trouble appears to have supervened, and he applied to the local committee to be sent away for a change. But before any arrangements could be made he went also to his panel doctor, who feared that the man was going out of his mind and was likely to become dangerous, and sent him to the infirmary as being the only place where he could be sure of instant admission. He has now been removed from the infirmary and sent to a convalescent home. I may add that the local superintending inspector of the Ministry took steps to secure the removal of these men immediately upon the facts coming to his notice.

Colonel ASHLEY

May I take it, first, that it is against the wish and against the instructions of the Ministry, and, secondly, that they will take immediate steps to see that such a scandal shall not occur again?

Sir A. GRIFFITH-BOSCAWEN

Certainly we do not think that discharged men should be sent to workhouse infirmaries at all. In both these cases it was a temporary emergency, and we shall always take steps to remove them at the first available opportunity.

Mr. HOGGE

Has my hon. and gallant Friend taken the step which was urged before in order to avoid a repetition of this, namely, that every workhouse master should at once get into telephonic communication with the Ministry of Pensions whenever any discharged soldier comes either to the workhouse or to the workhouse infirmary? Will he do that, and avoid a repetition of these painful incidents?

Sir A. GRIFFITH-BOSCAWEN

I will certainly take the suggestion into consideration.