§ Mr. Rhys Daviesasked the Secretary of State for War whether he will consider the advisability of the re-examination of all cases of men who have been lying in hospitals and mental institutions for a considerable period, in order to discover whether there are any who are not likely to make efficient soldiers and who ought, therefore, to be discharged from the Forces?
§ Captain MargessonExisting instructions already provide that, as soon as it becomes doubtful in the opinion of the medical officer in charge of the case whether a soldier in hospital is likely to become fit again for further military service, he is brought before a medical board in order that a decision may be 805W given without delay. Moreover, all soldiers must be brought before a medical board before the end of a period of five months' continuous absence from duty or three months in the case of patients in mental hospitals. If my hon. Friend has in mind any particular case in which there appears to have been undue delay in discharging a man from the Army, I shall be glad to look into it.