Board of Health & Public Assistance: Hospital & Dispensary Committee Minutes,1922 - 1942

Restricted Acccess:-

Bound volumes of typed and some printed copies of  minutes of County Galway Hospital & Dispensaries Committee meetings, 1922-1942, recording details of attendance and proceedings of originally fortnightly, from circa [1932] monthly meetings of the Committee, held in the Board Room of the Central Hospital, relating to the management of the central hospital, dispensary and nursing services.  The management primarily related to staffing issues, such as the payment of salaries and expenses, the control and discipline of staff, the appointment of nurses and dispensary doctors, the maintenance of its three ambulances and a hearse, and also the acceptance of tenders for goods and supplies such as milk, eggs, meat, slippers, table linen, soap, candles, coffins, medicines and so on.

Includes details from various reports, such as from the Matron (until 1924 from both the Prospect Hill Branch and the Central Hospital) generally reporting on staff issues such as staff absences due to annual leave or illness, appointment and training of probationer nurses, and reporting on the number of patients in the hospital, and reports from the Storekeeper generally relating to the supply of commodities such as meat, eggs, sugar, butter and so on.  Also includes details of correspondence received and dealt with, such as from the Local Government Department and County Board of Heath.   

From April 1922 onwards separate Minutes are recorded which deal with Medical Charities Business responsible for the management and staffing of the dispensaries.  Details relate to issuing of admission tickets to patients for hospital care, vaccinations and outbreaks of various diseases, such as small pox and typhoid fever, and the appointment of dispensary staff, such as mid-wives, who were sometimes from the Lady Dudley Nursing Society, or other associations

Minutes, from [1934] onwards include statistics on the number of patients, male and female, admitted and discharged to the hospital over the previous month, and the number remaining, together with returns showing the several Unions in County Galway in which the patients in the hospital resided.  The minutes also include confirmation that various reports, financial and other records, such as the Patients’ Register, Ledger, the Clerk’s Account of Petty Disbursements, and the Clerk’s Estimate of Provisions and Necessaries Required, together with the reports of the Finance (often reporting on unpaid accounts) and Visiting Committees, the Matron (whose report often gives the names of ward maids, cooks, trainee nurses, nurses and so on), and of the Medical Staff were produced, examined and approved together with details of required action relating to the information provided therein.  These include details (and often the names) of unmarried mothers where the Hospital attempted to re-coup maintenance fees from putative fathers. Also includes details of orders and letters received from or written to the Local Government Board and others, and details of subsequent resolutions passed and instructions issued authorising required action.

Some of the minutes are annotated ‘Office Copy’.

The minutes are generally dated, and signed by the Secretary and Chairman of the Committee.