Labour's First Year : 1945-46
1946 1946 1940s 27 pages treatment in a hospital. The chief contact which these people have with the Service will be, as it is to-day, through the family doctor. To-day he is generally regarded as friend and confidant. If in the future he is to become merely a state official with access to their hom...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
London : Common Wealth Publications Committee
1946
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/FD7A8C62-E969-4D92-89BC-31B088520FA6 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/50158EDA-5B49-4940-99ED-88556191B7A5 |
| Summary: | 1946
1946
1940s
27 pages
treatment in a hospital. The chief contact which these people have with the Service will be, as it is to-day, through the family doctor. To-day he is generally regarded as friend and confidant. If in the future he is to become merely a state official with access to their homes at a time when officialdom is least tolerable, then the whole scheme will fail however "efficient" it may appear to be on paper. It is, therefore, necessary to examine the provisions made for the general practitioner service in some detail in order to judge whether this is likely to happen, and to seek safeguards against it happening. On the "appointed day" in 1948, every family doctor will say whether he wishes to join the Service or not. If he declines to do so he will be free to practise as at present but will confine his activities to fee-paying patients. How many patients will decide to pay him fees when they are already paying contributions which entitle them to treatment under the N.H.S. will depend on several factors, but mostly on the excellence or otherwise of the Service. The doctor who elects to come in to the scheme will carry on much as he does at present, except that the great majority of his patients will not pay a fee to him personally. For his care of them he will receive a fixed basic salary and, in addition, a capitation fee ; the latter decreases in amount as the number of patients on his list rises, in order (presumably) to discourage him from accepting responsibility for more patients that he can adequately serve. In addition to his work for the Service he may accept fees from people who are not on his list of public patients. If, or when, a Health Centre is established, he will be able to have there consulting rooms equipped and staffed at public expense. Having joined the Service, he will no longer be able to sell the goodwill of his practice in which most of his capital is probably invested. To-day, this capital sum is paid over when he enters the practice and recovered on his retirement or death. As his practice is, in effect, being absorbed into the N.H.S., the government has set aside an agreed sum to be paid to him or his nominees when he ceases to work. In the meantime he will receive interest at 2½ per cent. on this sum. Remuneration has not yet been fixed. If the report of the Spens Committee is accepted, it seems probable that most family doctors will be better paid for their work than hitherto and have fewer distractions in the earning of the nett sum. Above all the young doctor, struggling to provide for the needs of a young family, will be relieved of the burden of debt contracted when he bought his practice and which weighs so heavily on his mind. 12
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |