asked the Minister for Local Government and Public Health whether an inquiry on oath was held into a complaint by a patient against Mrs. Loughney, midwife of Killala Dispensary District; whether the evidence of both patient and nurse, and other witnesses, was to the effect that the case, in which a fee of 10/- was voluntarily paid, was a private case, and that fees had been paid voluntarily on two previous occasions, and whether the Minister has decided that the case was a dispensary case; whether he was aware that the patient's husband was not a casual labourer, but in permanent employment, and would have been entitled to £2 maternity benefit if his employer had not neglected to stamp his insurance card; and, further, whether he was aware that this midwife's salary was only £35 a year, and that one of the objections to raising it was the small number of tickets issued, and, whether he was aware that efficient midwifery service in the dispensary district would be impossible if the midwife was not to be allowed to attend cases without receiving either ticket or fee.
CEISTEANNA—QUESTIONS. ORAL ANSWERS. - KILLALA MIDWIFERY CASE—PATIENT'S COMPLAINT.
TOMAS Mac EOIN
The answer to the first part of the question is in the affirmative. Inquiries were made in this case as to whether the patient was attended on a ticket for gratuitous Medical Relief, or if she was eligible for such relief. The Home Assistance Officer stated that the patient was not attended on a ticket but that, being a labourer's wife, she was entitled to gratuitous medical relief. Furthermore, the Doctor's services were gratuitously rendered, as he stated he would not be entitled to accept a fee. In these circumstances there was no alternative but to decide that the patient was entitled to relief on ticket. The fact that the midwife accepted fees for attendance does not exempt her from the provisions of Article 21 (6) of the Dispensary Regulations, which prescribes that:—
"The Midwife is prohibited, under penalty of dismissal, from accepting a fee for her services from any patient in the dispensary district who has obtained a medical relief visiting ticket, or who is entitled to medical relief under the Poor Relief (Ireland) Act, 1851."
The fact that midwives fail to insist on receiving tickets for their services has little bearing on the point. It is always open to the midwife to report to the County Board of Health or Home Assistance Officer that she has attended ticket cases and has failed to obtain tickets from them. There is no bar on the midwife accepting fees from patients who are not entitled to gratuitous medical relief.
The question of the salaries of midwives in County Mayo has been brought to the notice of the Board of Health, and a further communication on the subject will shortly be addressed to that body.