asked the Minister for Health if his attention has been drawn to an advertisement dated 30/11/48 in the Press, on behalf of the Dublin Board of Assistance for the appointment of nurses for St. Clare's Hospital, Glasnevin; if so, whether he will state whether the proposed salary of £130, rising by £10 to £150 per annum, with meals, laundry and £30 allowance in lieu of residence (with an uncertain bonus of 3/9 per week), has been approved by him as an adequate salary for the posts; whether the Board will provide accommodation for the nurses appointed to the posts at the stipulated residence allowance.
Ceisteanna—Questions. Oral Answers. - Pay of Nurses.
The scale of remuneration mentioned in the advertisement for nurses at St. Clare's Hospital is the scale generally approved for general trained nurses and Sick Children's Nurses employed in that institution and is equivalent to the remuneration paid to similar nurses in other local authority institutions in Dublin. In addition to the salary mentioned these nurses are in receipt of emoluments to a total value of £117 a year, together with temporary bonus of 7s. 6d. a week. This means that their total remuneration is £266 10s. 0d. a year at the minimum of the scale rising by annual increments of £10 to a maximum of £286 10s. 0d. a year. General trained nurses who are qualified for fever nursing and engaged on that work are entitled to an allowance of £10 a year. The total remuneration in such cases is, therefore, £276 10s. 0d. per annum rising to £296 10s. 0d. per annum.
In St. Clare's Hospital and certain other institutions where nurses are nonresident but in receipt of meals while on duty, arrangements are made for the payment to them of the approved ration allowance of £70, meals being supplied by the local authority concerned at a very nominal cost and paid for by the nurses. This arrangement has the effect of compensating the nurses concerned for any additional expense they might incur in securing suitable living accommodation outside the hospital.