National Service for Health : the Labour Party's post-war policy
1943-04 1943 1940s 24 pages The full health that we aim at is to a great extent a consequence of good government. No agency less universal in its authority than Government can secure for the whole people the conditions necessary for health; and no ill-health in any part of the population can be a ma...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
London : Labour Party
April 1943
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/997C133F-4C93-4C6B-8054-DFC4AA1B000E http://hdl.handle.net/10796/54ABD2BD-5BC5-43A0-B234-07AFB8C9639D |
| Summary: | 1943-04
1943
1940s
24 pages
The full health that we aim at is to a great extent a consequence of good government. No agency less universal in its authority than Government can secure for the whole people the conditions necessary for health; and no ill-health in any part of the population can be a matter of indifference to the people's Government. The Medical Service that we Need Besides the various Services which affect health indirectly, we need the direct aid of a Medical Service. That Service should be:— (1) Planned as a whole, so that there are no gaps in it; (2) Preventative as well as curative. It must be equipped for preventing every avoidable damage to the intricate working of body and mind, and for promoting the full flowering of every man's and woman's physical and mental strength ; it must be positive as well as negative, helping those who are fit to keep fit, and those who are nearly fit to become fully fit. In addition, the Medical Service must provide for the cure of disease, the treatment of accidents, the care of the sick, the relief of suffering, the rehabilitation of the convalescent, maternity care and the medical treatment of children, etc. (3) Complete, covering all kinds of treatment required. The Beveridge Report called for a comprehensive Health Service ensuring "that for every citizen there is available whatever medical treatment he requires, in whatever form he requires it, domiciliary or institutional, general, specialist, or consultant, and will ensure also the provision of dental, ophthalmic, and surgical appliances, nursing and midwifery, and rehabilitation after accidents." (Beveridge Report para. 427.) This has been accepted in principle by the Government. A service which is to provide "whatever medical treatment" the citizen may require must include the service of a good general practitioner; an all-round service of specialists ; good hospitals with enough beds ; a nursing service in hospital and, when necessary, in the home ; midwifery and other maternity services ; a complete infant welfare and school medical service ; health visitors ; welfare workers ; home help to those who need it for medical reasons ; and provision for obtaining surgical appliances, dentures, spectacles, etc. (4) Open to All, irrespective of means or social position. The Service must, as the Beveridge Report says, be available "for every citizen . . . without an economic barrier at any point to delay recourse to it." Poverty must be no bar to health, no bar to a man's right to life. There should be no lower limit of income, nor any upper income limit, for access to the benefits of the entire services. (5) Efficient and up to date. The service must be amply equipped and endowed for research. Medical research workers should be enabled to keep in closest touch with fellow-workers at home and abroad, and all the doctors should have every encouragement and facility for sharing in research. In particular, provision should be made for "team-work" by the doctors, and for bringing together the resources of modern medicine in conveniently distributed Centres. (6) Accessible to the public. It should be possible for a general practitioner to direct the public to a centre not too far from home where anyone could be examined by specialists and receive special treatment; and, if necessary, the doctor should be able to call in a specialist to the patient's home. (7) Preserve confidence between doctor and patient. Good doctoring is a very individual business. Patients should be able to change their doctors if dissatisfied, and have a choice of an alternative. 3
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |