Vol. 412 No. 5
171 Mr. Howlin asked the Minister for Health if he will outline the present rates of allowances payable by his Department to hospital orderlies participating in post mortem examinations in (1) ordinary cases, (2) State cases and (3) where the corpse is decomposed; and if he will give details of when these allowances were last increased by his Department.
A number of arrangements apply in the case of hospital staff assisting at post-mortems.
In a number of larger hospitals, a specific qualified grade of pathology technician is employed. The current scale applicable is in the range £10,758-£13,020 per annum.
In Dublin Voluntary Hospitals, an allowance of £2.53 per post-mortem is paid where assistance at post-mortems is given by unqualified staff. In other hospitals, a grade of mortuary attendant may be employed at a weekly salary in the range of £169.00-£179.67. A number of post-mortems may be undertaken outside hours of normal rostered attendance in which case overtime payments would be applicable. These arrangements apply in normal hospital post-mortem situations.
