The labour movement and the hospital crisis
1922 1922 1920s 21 pages unto itself, jealous of its neighbours and competing against each other to gain the ear of the public by somewhat vulgar advertisements and sensational appeals, are seen to entail much waste of both money and efficiency. There are already signs that more co-operation is like...
| Main Author: | |
|---|---|
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
London ; published by the Trades Union Congress and the Labour Party
[1922]
|
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/C9AD5E62-535C-4B96-8000-31501B19E48A http://hdl.handle.net/10796/5A00C4E1-F0A7-4E29-B1BB-2EE22AAAA904 |
| Summary: | 1922
1922
1920s
21 pages
unto itself, jealous of its neighbours and competing against each other to gain the ear of the public by somewhat vulgar advertisements and sensational appeals, are seen to entail much waste of both money and efficiency. There are already signs that more co-operation is likely in the near future. This is all to the good, for one organised hospital service throughout the country is essential to a high standard of national health. A Service of Specialists Again, efforts are now being made to supply through the hospitals an organised service of specialists to people of slender incomes by means of a system of voluntary insurance. In Brighton and Sussex such a scheme is actually at work, and in London there has been started a "National Provident Scheme for Hospital and Additional Medical Services," working chiefly in conjunction with the London, St. Thomas's and the Royal Free Hospitals, and the King's Hospital Fund has recently put pressure on all London hospitals to come into the scheme. In so far as such schemes can supply specialists' services to those in need of them, they are all to the good, but if successful, they are sure to result in the exclusion from hospitals of many of the poorer citizens, who cannot afford the luxury of insurance and for whom the hospitals were originally founded. In the words of the Organising Secretary of the scheme the co-operating hospitals "are asked to give such a measure of privacy and priority to the members of the scheme as may be found possible without prejudice to the work of the hospital or to the needs of more urgent cases, and to this request there has been a most generous response." * So far, however, such schemes do not show any prospect of success proportionate to the financial needs of the hospital. More Beds The present insufficiency of beds to meet the needs of the population is also becoming recognised, and the trend of public opinion is undoubtedly in favour of providing more beds in some way or other. The fact is recognised, and suggestions for its remedy are made in the Labour Party Memorandum, in the Dawson Report, and in the Cave Report; and in Dr. Addison's Miscellaneous Provisions Bill attempt was made to get over the difficulty in a practical manner through municipal action. Financial Methods The following methods of obtaining money for the support of Voluntary Hospitals are in practice or have been proposed : (a) Weekly subscriptions from employees. (b) Payments by patients for services rendered. (c) Donations from Approved Societies. (d) Payments by the Insured. (e) Payments by public authorities for services rendered. (f) Donations from the State and municipal authorities. (a) Workmen's Subscriptions The system of collecting weekly subscriptions from workmen has been in operation for many years, especially in some of the larger industrial centres of the north. A penny and sometimes twopence is deducted from the weekly wage by the employer and handed on direct to the hospitals or to the Hospital Saturday Fund. In this way very large sums have been collected, varying * Health, October 29, 1921, p. 10. 8
126/TG/RES/X/1036A/6 |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | TEXT |