Trade Union Advisory Medical Officers
1920 1920 1920s 9 pages There ought to be 2 classes of Hospitals in this country under State supervision and popular control, viz:- National Hospitals - teaching medical schools attached to Universities. County Hospitals) Borough Hospitals) under Local Authorities Cottage Hospitals - under parish co...
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| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English English |
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[1920?]
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/11250E39-18AC-4A4C-9FDC-E4CBB41EA212 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/ED84F798-81A6-440C-A38D-2F7B36FAEBAD |
| Summary: | 1920
1920
1920s
9 pages
There ought to be 2 classes of Hospitals in this country under State supervision and popular control, viz:- National Hospitals - teaching medical schools attached to Universities. County Hospitals) Borough Hospitals) under Local Authorities Cottage Hospitals - under parish councils. There should be a liaison system connecting each class of Hospitals, with a uniform system of administration, and also a development and provision of ambulance services (Ambulances, Hospital trains etc.) in towns and cities only institutions akin to the Casualty Clearing Stations in the war should be provided, and provision made for removing patients to the Hospitals in the open air of the country. The Convalescent Homes and Hospitals in the country should not be built on the "barrack" principle, but as outlying cottages and homes for individual treatment. Facilities for the visiting of patients by relatives should be provided by the issue of free railway and ambulance passes, with sleeping accomodation in the Hospital villages for relatives to remain at hand in critical or urgent cases. These desirable features in the reform of the Hospital system of the country should be kept before the Trade Unionists of the country, as individually they stand to gain in medical treatment and attention from such establishments. One of the functions of the medical section of its General Staff or of the Advisory Medical Officers of the different Trade Unions is the preparation in detail of such scheme for submission to the Labour Movement. There are very few, if any, representatives of the Labour Movement or Trade Union organisations on the boards of the voluntary hospitals. Many trade unions as organisations, apart from the individual contributions of its members, subscribe fairly generously to special institutions or hospitals in their locality or particular area. The duty of representing Labour on some of these Boards, after the submission of the request for such representation has been made, may be delegated to Advisory Medical Officers of Unions. The necessity of transforming the personnel or constitution of the Boards or governing committees of voluntary hospitals is urgent for other reasons. One is the need for absolute impartiality in the case of appointments to the Hospital Staff. It is not generally recognised by the workers and Trade unions how difficult it is for any member of the medical profession (or indeed any applicant) who is known to be in sympathy with Labour to secure an appointment, even in a minor capacity, on the Hospitals. Their friends and sympathisers are penalised in this respect individually and the workers do nothing except to keep on subscribing towards the upkeep of a Hospital system by which their known sympathisers are penalised. At present, in spite of the subscriptions of workers to the voluntary Hospitals, no known friend of Labour (say a Labour Parliamentary candidate) can secure an appointment. They are frequently voted down, on a consideration of the qualifications of applicants, even for such small appointments as the Clinical Assistantships in Outpatient Departments. Many instances can be quoted in support of this allegation. The following suggestion is tentatively put forward for consideration and discussion. Subscriptions of Trade Unions, and their individual members to voluntary hospitals, instead of being distributed haphazardly by deductions from workers' wages at regular intervals in different centres and scattered areas should be secured by and kept under control of Trade Unions for transmission to the central funds of the Trade Unions (when the General Staff is established) for allocation of the Trade Union Hospital
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |