National Service for Health : the Labour Party's post-war policy
1943-04 1943 1940s 24 pages It will be noted that this figure of £170,000,000 is very close to what we shall be spending on the existing service after the war — about £165,000,000 ; but the Beveridge estimate is to cover a much wider service. It must not be assumed that...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
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London : Labour Party
April 1943
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/5B621597-68C7-4E3B-BFD0-7619368EAB82 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/6CDCE3B0-D8B5-4502-BD81-61AE6B4278B7 |
| Summary: | 1943-04
1943
1940s
24 pages
It will be noted that this figure of £170,000,000 is very close to what we shall be spending on the existing service after the war — about £165,000,000 ; but the Beveridge estimate is to cover a much wider service. It must not be assumed that we could not have a more complete service for the same money, if the system were reorganised by the State. The pre-war expenditure of £140,000,000 on treatment of the sick has been carefully analysed by the Socialist Medical Association and by Dr. Stark Murray. They estimate that, if the service were replanned as a State Medical Service, we could get far more than we now get for £140,000,000. For instance, we could increase our hospital accommodation by 25 per cent., and spend £7,000,000 a year on medical research instead of some £400,000 as at present; and we could have the full service of 40,000 doctors, 14,000 dentists, 24,000 pharmacists, etc. Even if the Beveridge figure of £170,000,000 were to be somewhat exceeded, the burden would still be a light one, having regard to the importance of the need and the size of the national income. That income has been increasing, remember, at the rate of about 1½ per cent, annually; there is no reason to anticipate that such an increase will not be resumed soon after the war. The money we spend on health is not money poured down the drain or blown into space ; much of it is productive, since it buys not only release from the frustration and pain of ill-health, but also fulness of life, new strength for new endeavour. At any given time we have in this country about 800,000 people who cannot work owing to ill-health. If, through the State's new service of preventive medicine and rehabilitation of the disabled, one quarter of this number can be restored to fitness for work, the value of the extra capacity for work by the 200,000 people will amount to something like £60,000,000 a year. So it comes to this. We shall be spending approximately £170,000,000 a year on the existing service, with all its defects. For about the same money, we could have a comprehensive service, economically planned and open to all. Which is the more economical investment? The Labour Party has no doubt as to the answer. In the interests of the nation's health, vigour and happiness ; in the interests of true economy ; in the interests of the medical profession as well as the interests of the sick, the Labour Party appeals to every citizen to support this great reform—the organisation of a National Service for Health. PR!CES, POST FREE s. d. 1 copy 3 12 copies 1 6 50 copies 6 0 100 copies 12 0 April, 1943
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |