S.M.A. leaflet. No. 4, Your health service in danger
1945 1945 1940s 5 pages S.M.A. Leaflet No. 4 YOUR HEALTH SERVICE IN DANGER A comprehensive national health service, complete and free at the time of use, is one of the first great post-war social advances the people of this country expect. It has long been a part of the programme of the Labour Par...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
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1945
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/98DC4463-5954-4173-94B0-6727ED2A4430 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/980B5C99-AFDC-4786-B6A7-77BC46D56758 |
| Summary: | 1945
1945
1940s
5 pages
S.M.A. Leaflet No. 4 YOUR HEALTH SERVICE IN DANGER A comprehensive national health service, complete and free at the time of use, is one of the first great post-war social advances the people of this country expect. It has long been a part of the programme of the Labour Party, and has been endorsed by every progressive organisation; as Assumption B of the Beveridge Report it was enthusiastically welcomed by every shade of opinion and immediately accepted by the Government. As translated by the Government in its White Paper, "A National Health Service," it promised a definite social advance and a step towards a socialised service. This National Health Service is intended to make good the deficiencies of existing arrangements. It is to be available to everyone without class, social or financial distinction and without any kind of hindrance to its use; it is to be free to all at the time of use. The intention is to provide for all, rich or poor, old or young, every form of medical advice and treatment : and to provide through one public service the medical attention, disease prevention and health promotion. It would mean a complete change from the past; no more "panel or private." The new service would be provided as an essential need of the people, theirs by right and not by charity. Whole Scheme in Peril Yet there is a grave danger that pressure by those interested in keeping things as they are will force the Government to weaken its proposals and lose the opportunity to provide the people with the finest health service in the world. Unless the organised working-class make it clear that they demand the Government's plan in full, influential interests will see to it that only minor changes are made in our far from satisfactory medical services. Once before a British Government proposed to deal with the problem of national health; but the National Health Insurance Act was shaped more by those with material interests in this held than by the workers, the sick or their representatives. The result was a scheme which left out the women and children and failed to provide the specialist, and hospital care so essential to modern medicine. The Doctors Attack Medicine has outgrown its present form of practice and organisation. The British Medical Association has long demanded an extension of N.H.I. but public and political opinion have gone far ahead of that idea. A comprehensive service available to all citizens is a far bigger thing; and those doctors who oppose such a scheme do so because it involves changes in the forms of practice to which they are accustomed. The annual meeting of the B.M.A. made only one concrete proposal, that specialist and institutional service should be added for those at present insured; and only when that had been done should mothers and children be brought in - and only if they could not afford to pay for their medical care! This decision was made possible by the demagogic methods of an organised group of wealthy doctors and completely ignored the known views of the doctors as a whole. In the B.M.A. Questionary, sent to every doctor, a majority voted in favour of the essential features of the proposed service, viz., that it should be for 100 per cent. of the people, that it should be complete and free, and that it should be based on Health Centres.
292/847/3/131 |
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |