HC Deb 26 January 1943 vol 386 cc345-6
20. Sir Henry Morris-Jones

asked the Secretary of State for War whether his attention has been called to the inquest on Corporal Helen Mary MacRae, Auxiliary Territorial Service, whose death was caused or accelerated through a fall from a stretcher, which was being carried by four Army stretcher-bearers, three of whom were admitted to be inexperienced in their work; and whether he will cause an inquiry to be made to find out why at this stage of the war there are inexperienced stretcher-bearers?

The Joint Under-Secretary of State for War (Mr. Arthur Henderson)

I have carefully considered the facts connected with the death of Corporal MacRae. I should like to take this opportunity of expressing my sincere regret. It is, however, clear from the inquest and from the proceedings of the Court of Inquiry which was held that her death was due to the condition she was in when she was removed to hospital and not to her fall from the stretcher, which, according to medical opinion, could not have done more than accelerate her death by a few minutes. Corporal MacRae was taken ill and removed in the middle of the night. She was living in billets. As there were no qualified stretcher-bearers available and in view of the urgency of the case, the medical officer called upon four men from a nearby unit to carry the stretcher. It was unfortunate that Army stretcher-bearers were not available, but it is clearly impossible to have teams of stretcher-bearers on call everywhere for emergencies of this nature. In view of these facts, I trust that my hon. Friend will agree with me that no further inquiry is needed.

Sir H. Morris-Jones

Is my hon. and learned Friend satisfied that there are in the Auxiliary Territorial Service sufficient trained personnel in field ambulance and field service work to deal with these matters, and that there is no excuse why in any large town there should not be at least two fully trained stretcher bearers for every accident case; and if that is not the case, will he see that that is put right?

Mr. Henderson

I can assure my hon. Friend that the question of training a sufficient number of stretcher bearers receives constant attention, and in fact training is going on all the time, but I would not like to commit myself to the view that there is a sufficient number at the moment so far as the A.T.S. are concerned.