The National Health Service
1948 1948 1940s 38 pages where such accommodation is available patients using the Service, and wanting privacy when it is not medically essential, will be able to get it as an 'extra' by paying part of the cost so long as the accommodation is not wanted by a patient who needs it on...
| Main Author: | |
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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/10796/75ED33E8-467F-4A8F-B434-AED49DA635FB http://hdl.handle.net/10796/9680C741-54FD-42A2-A289-37330ED197F8 |
| Summary: | 1948
1948
1940s
38 pages
where such accommodation is available patients using the Service, and wanting privacy when it is not medically essential, will be able to get it as an 'extra' by paying part of the cost so long as the accommodation is not wanted by a patient who needs it on medical grounds. Until there is ample room for all in the hospitals, the first loyalty of the Service must be to the patients using it and to the doctors serving them. But the patient who does not want to use the Service, preferring to pay for his own specialist treatment, cannot simply be shut out of the public hospital for — other considerations apart — this would often mean also shutting out the specialist, whom the hospital needs and who wants to combine private with public work. It would also mean driving such private patients as remain into nursing homes which do not possess the fuller facilities of the hospitals. The private paying patient may therefore be given hospital accommodation, but on payment of the whole cost, in accommodation specially set aside for him. But the private patient 'pay beds' set aside for his use can be used for ordinary patients of the Service, for whom the Service is obliged to make provision, if their medical needs urgently require it. The fees which specialists charge patients admitted to private patient 'pay beds' are usually subject to a maximum, but for a proportion of private cases the maximum can be waived by the hospital authority. 3 SERVICES OF THE LOCAL HEALTH AUTHORITIES IN THE hospital the doctor cannot do his work without the support of a whole team of other health workers — fellow-doctors, pharmacists, nurses, midwives, laboratory technicians, radiographers, social workers and other experts. Similarly the need for team work does not stop at the hospital doors. People ill at home or needing advice or care not normally given by hospitals cannot look to the family doctor for everything. While the doctor will turn to the hospital for expert advice, or if necessary for help at the patient's bedside, he may also require the support of auxiliary health workers, especially nurses in the home. The doctor does not employ the home nurse, the midwife, or the health 16
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |