The National Health Service
1948 1948 1940s 38 pages drug, appliance or service which is medically necessary ; charges are made only for certain 'extras' which are not medically necessary and — according to the patient's ability to pay — for some supplementary services, such as do...
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| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
London : His Majesty's Stationery Office
1948
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/5E45328D-00F5-4A5D-B4F8-946BDC2CB188 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/53BEE28F-1F13-4AAB-87CD-76C610EB6F82 |
| Summary: | 1948
1948
1940s
38 pages
drug, appliance or service which is medically necessary ; charges are made only for certain 'extras' which are not medically necessary and — according to the patient's ability to pay — for some supplementary services, such as domestic help, blankets, foods, etc., provided by Local Health Authorities. It is worth emphasising again that when he wants free medical care the patient does not have to prove that he is insured and 'in benefit'. The Health Service is quite separate from the insurance scheme, which exists to give people not medical care, but money during sickness and unemployment, and to provide pensions. The purpose of the Health Service is to provide advice or medical care for the individual man, woman, and child in need of them. Its range includes everything from advice on infant feeding to the surgery of the brain and the treatment of rare diseases, from care of mental defectives to blood transfusion, iron lungs, and artificial limbs ; included also is all that goes with medical care, such as massage, the services of a midwife, treatment during convalescence, home nursing, use of ambulances, care of the eyes and teeth, drugs, special foods, spectacles, hearing aids, and so forth. The usual way of obtaining most of these services is from or through the family doctor ; and the aim is to put him as quickly as possible in a position to carry out his own duties more easily and to make all the other services available for the well-being of his patients. It must again be pointed out that these services cannot all be fully provided at once. Arrangements for all forms of nursing, for the care of chronic invalids, for many specialist services, and for the provision of appliances, fall far short of the ideal. The New Health Authorities As the effect of the Health Service is to promise every citizen the right to medical care, it must be someone's duty to see that this promise is honoured, and that each of the many branches of the service is adequate for its purpose. This duty falls to the Minister of Health, and he is answerable to Parliament for its fulfilment. But he and his officials cannot, and should not, manage the Service themselves ; nor can they plan it in detail. The detailed planning and daily management of each section is done by a variety of regional or local bodies in touch with local needs and wishes, and able to make full use of local interest and experience. Each of these local bodies actually running the Service is in charge of an area sufficiently large for its particular purpose and with sufficient resources to do its job properly. These bodies, however, are not in charge of civil servants. Every regional or local body actually administering the Service is composed entirely of voluntary unpaid workers. More than 10,000 of these volunteers are running the scheme in the regions and localities. 5
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |