§ Sir PHILIP MAGNUSasked the Secretary of State for War if the sickness or mortality during 1910, 1911, and 1912 amongst the non-commissioned officers and men of the three regiments of Household Cavalry has been greater, considering their numerical strength, than in any other units quartered in the United Kingdom; if he will furnish returns of fatal illnesses in those three regiments during 561W the past three years, and of those who succumbed to the diseases for which they had been invalided within six months of their discharge, and state the periods each of all these cases had been detained in the Household Cavalry hospitals prior to their transfers to fully equipped hospitals; whether he is aware that, although each Household Cavalry regiment possesses two medical officers borne on its strength, both of them at times during the past three years have been simultaneously absent on leave from their respective regiments for several days in succession or even longer, and only one out of the four belonging to the two regiments quartered in London has been available to answer for the three absentees, which is not a satisfactory custom for this temporary Care of serious cases, when the treatment may require daily or hourly modification; and whether the medical officer on duty is easily accessible for sudden emergencies, or whether such have to await his next visit to his hospital during the course of the following day, being meanwhile only attended and prescribed for by a corporal of the regiment left in sole charge of it for twenty-four hours?
§ Colonel SEELYInquiries concerning these matters are still proceeding.
§ Mr. FALLEasked the Secretary of State for War whether the Household Cavalry hospitals at Regent's Park barracks and at Combermere barracks. Windsor, are properly equipped for operations and treatment for pulmonary and other grave diseases, and what nursing staff is provided in them; can X-rays be used, and testing and recognised treatment for tubercular complaints; whether these hospitals are frequently inspected by higher medical authorities or in any way supervised by them; who is actually responsible for their efficient working; is the nourishment, its preparation, and administration, as specifically ordered to each patient, under any higher daily supervision than that of a corporal; is he solely depended upon for administering remedies, intermediate dressings, fomentations, etc.; whether fatal results in several cases during the period under inquiry can be at all attributed to any delays in their transfers to thoroughly-staffed and equipped civil or military hospitals; if so, will he recommend for the future immediate transfers of all suspicious and anxious cases?
§ Colonel SEELYInquiries concerning these matters are still proceeding.