Public Assistance Act, 1939

PART VII.

Miscellaneous Provisions.

Power of Minister to abolish county infirmaries and county fever hospitals.

86.—(1) The Minister may by order abolish a county infirmary or a county fever hospital or a public general infirmary for two or more counties or a county and a county borough if he thinks proper so to do after consultation with every (if any) council of a county and every (if any) corporation of a county borough which contributes to the maintenance of such infirmary or hospital and consultation with the committee of management of such infirmary or hospital.

(2) Whenever an infirmary or a fever hospital is abolished by an order made under the foregoing sub-section of this section, the following provisions shall have effect, that is to say:—

(a) the Minister shall, by the said order, fix the date on which such abolition shall become operative;

(b) the Minister may, by the said order or any subsequent order, make provision for the closing of such infirmary or hospital, the transfer of the patients therein, and such other matters (not specifically provided for by this section) as shall appear to him to be necessary for carrying such abolition into effect;

(c) all property held for the purposes of such infirmary or hospital by a council of a county or corporation of a county borough and all property held by the committee of management of such infirmary or hospital shall, on the date on which such abolition becomes operative, become and be transferred to and vested in the public assistance authority for the public assistance district in which such infirmary or hospital is situate and shall thenceforth be held by such authority for the purposes of this Act;

(d) all the debts and liabilities of the said committee shall, as on and from the date on which such abolition becomes operative, become and be debts and liabilities of and be defrayed by the said public assistance authority;

(e) every person who, immediately before the date on which such abolition becomes operative, is an officer of the committee of management of such infirmary or hospital and (except in the case of a medical officer) devotes the whole of his time to the service of such committee shall, if his period of service under such committee is, immediately before the said date, not less than ten years, have the same rights to receive an allowance from the said public assistance authority as he would have if he were a pensionable officer of the said public assistance authority and held office under that authority for a period equal to his period of service under the said committee and were removed from such office for a cause other than misconduct or incapacity.