Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress. : Report on Ireland.

  • Great Britain. Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress.
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Laws and Relief of Distress. : Report on Ireland. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service. The original may be consulted at London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine Library & Archives Service.

    92/106 (page 80)
    (2) That for the better care, relief and treatment of the poor who are lunatics, idiotic or imbecile in mind, or otherwise afflicted with mental dis- ease, it is expedient that a complete reorganisation of the whole Lunacy administration be effected. For which purpose they recommend (a) That under the provisions of Sec. 15 of 8 & 9 Vic. c. 107, the existing district asylums should be classified, reserving one or more, as may be required, in each province as lunatic hospitals, especially- for the curative treatment of the insane. (6) That the remaining district asylums should be appropriated as^ lunatic asylums for the accommodation of the chronic insane requiring special care. A certain number of this class would be- accommodated in the lunatic hospitals, as about fifty of each sex would be required for the service of those establishments. (c) That the inspection of the lunatics at large should be made- one of the duties of the dispensary medical officers, who should be re- munerated for this duty, and whose certificate that any one of this class is neglected or improperly cared for, should be made the ground for action bv the lunacy authorities. (d) That the accommodation for the third or harmless class who are at present in lunatic asylums, in workhouses, or at large in a neglected state be- provided by the appropriation of spare workhouse buildings, a sufficiency of yhich is to be found in each province, thus also meeting the very general complaint of Guardians being compelled to maintain superfluous workhouse accommodation. The Commission adds : Thus each province would be provided with three classes of lunatic establishments^ i.e., with one or more lunatic hospitals, in which undivided attention could be given to the curative treatment of lunacy in its earliest stages, with first class lunatic asylums in which the chronic cases requiring special care would be treated, and with second class or workhouse auxiliary asylums for harmless cases not requiring special care. The first class asylums, with their superintendents and staff would still be available for the reception on first committal of urgent cases, and worked in concert with the hospital establishments, would receive their cases when they are classed as probably incurable, and would in their turn pass on cases, when they become harmless, to the workhouse auxiliary. All classes of the lunatic poor would thus be provided for. 318. Sec. 9 of the Local Government (Ireland) Act, 1898, requires the coimty council to provide and maintain accommodation for all the lunatic poor, and the Guardians make no payment in respect of them. Sec. 76 of the same enactment empowers them to provide auxiliary lunatic asylums for the reception of chronic harmless cases not requiring special care and treatment in a fully equipped lunatic asylum; and smy such auxiliary asylum may be either a separate asylum or a department of the district or county asylum. County councils are also authorised in certain circumstances to take over disused workhouses or other suitable buildings in the possession of the Guardians to be used as auxiliary lunatic asylums for the reception of chronic harmless lunatics. 319. The Local Government Board, in a circular letter, dated July 17th, 1902, urged Guardians to endeavour to gradually reduce the number of insane in workhouses by making a selection of the worst cases from time to time, and applying for their ad- mission to the asylums. In this way it was hoped that all lunatics would be ultimately removed from workhouses to lunatic asylums. The number of epileptics and other lunatics and idiots in Irish workhouses on December 31st, 1907, was 3,568, as com- pared with 3,238 at the end of the previous year. 320. The Vice-Regal Commission deals fully with the question of lunatics and idiots.. Their recommendations are in effect that the insane should be removed from Poor Law institutions and be detained in auxiliary or other asylums under the control of the lunatic asylum authorities and that sane epileptics should be placed in separate institutions, for which purposes disused workhouses will be available. With these recommendations we concur.