National Service for Health : the Labour Party's post-war policy
1943-04 1943 1940s 24 pages In the Labour Party's opinion, therefore, it is necessary that the medical profession shouid be organised as a national, full-time, salaried, pensionable service. Doctors and nurses, as well as the rest of the medical profession, should have fixed hours of servic...
| 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/10796/4E68BCEA-BB6C-4810-A677-FB7260B58D6A http://hdl.handle.net/10796/20EE36EC-BD5C-4E28-9BD4-FD9C8A3403E5 |
| Summary: | 1943-04
1943
1940s
24 pages
In the Labour Party's opinion, therefore, it is necessary that the medical profession shouid be organised as a national, full-time, salaried, pensionable service. Doctors and nurses, as well as the rest of the medical profession, should have fixed hours of service ; though in the doctor's case, an emergency may of course arise which will upset his normal time-table. The service must be national, supplied and paid for out of taxes and rates. We cannot have a Medical Service which covers all the medical needs of all the people unless all the people contribute to the cost, and unless the doctoring can be distributed in accordance with the needs of all the people. The service should be full time. Suppose that it were not full time, but that the doctor was partly employed in private practice. Either his service for the State would be just as thorough and conscientious as his service when treating fee-paying patients as a private doctor, or else his standard would differ. If patients could get his full attention, however, without paying a fee during half the day, they would hardly go to him during those hours when a fee would be charged. It would be intolerable that his service as a State doctor should be less adequate than the service rendered for private fees. National Service for Health is a service honourable enough for any recruit; it should be a service well enough paid and protected to meet the needs of every doctor in a democratic Britain. The service should be salaried and pensionable. The State should make equitable provision for the security of tenure and superannuation rights of all the members of the State Medical Service ; and it will be necessary for reasons of equity to devise a scheme of compensation for the value of doctors' practices in which doctors have invested capital. Only when the doctor is thus paid will it be possible to set him free to do his best work in the wide field of preventive, as well as curative, medicine. Only so will it be possible to ensure that the service of doctors is distributed in accordance with a disinterested estimate of the nation's needs. Only so will it be possible to protect the doctor against the overwork which is often the consequence of his own devotion to his great task as a healer. It may be that for a while some doctors will wish to be left out of the State Scheme, and remain dependent upon private practice. The nation should make the service so efficient and complete that no patient could desire a better and every doctor will wish to serve in it. Midwives The service of midwives should be organised through the Local Health Centres, and the midwives should form a team with the obstetrical doctors. Much of their work will be in the homes of mothers, but they must also be in close touch with the Maternity Section of the Divisional Hospital. Health Visitors Health visitors should be available at the Health Centre and in the home. They should become a strong link between the family and the medical staff of the Health Centre. In particular, they should be concerned with protecting the health of infants, and with education in the preservation and development of full health for all in the home. 18
36/H24/40 |
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |