The labour movement and the hospital crisis
1922 1922 1920s 21 pages from 10 per cent. to as much as 75 per cent. of the income of the hospital. There is no inherent reason why workmen should not contribute to Voluntary Hospitals if they are properly represented on the committee of management, but in practice the subscription becomes almost a...
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| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
| Language: | English English |
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London ; published by the Trades Union Congress and the Labour Party
[1922]
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| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/3E98447F-3E5A-434B-B6C5-B192AAE6F703 http://hdl.handle.net/10796/E7EC7E00-AF3F-4547-8ED3-4715EDFCF62E |
| Summary: | 1922
1922
1920s
21 pages
from 10 per cent. to as much as 75 per cent. of the income of the hospital. There is no inherent reason why workmen should not contribute to Voluntary Hospitals if they are properly represented on the committee of management, but in practice the subscription becomes almost a compulsory levy, for individuals cannot well hold back if the majority are willing to subscribe. The employers would take note of the fact to the detriment of the non-subscribers. Moreover, it is a levy of unequal incidence. The system is not applicable to all works; no attempt is made to apply it to many trades, to men working "on their own," to black-coated labour, nor to a host of middle-class folk with small incomes, who seek and should obtain hospital treatment when seriously ill. A rate or a tax which all had to pay would be a fairer thing. Finally, there is a great tendency nowadays to increase beyond the point of wisdom the weekly deductions and necessary subscriptions of wage-earners. Compulsory insurance, hospitals, Friendly Societies, Trade Unions, life and burial insurance for himself and his family and many other liabilities may so reduce the weekly income of the wage-earner as to render a proper standard of life impossible. (b) Patients' Payments The system of "patients' payments" for treatment in the general wards and out-patient departments of the hospitals is also open to objection. There is naturally a bias on the part of the management to admit those who can pay in preference to those who cannot, and if the fee varies with the patients' means, to select those who pay most. Hence the purse becomes the criterion of admission, instead of medical and surgical necessity, which is a bad principle. Again, if the majority pay, it is very uncomfortable for those who do not. It is very difficult for the administration and the nursing staff not to show some slight difference in favour of "pay patients." Further, if patients are charged for services rendered, whether as in- or out-patients according to their means, much objectionable cross-questioning on the part of hospital officials becomes necessary, and the unpleasant task of proving his inability to pay or the amount he can afford is put upon the patient. Unless the matter is handled by a really tactful and sympathetic official, the system becomes truly deterrent. It is wonderful how reticent are the really poor about their poverty, and rather than confess it, many will deny themselves and their families in a manner that in no sense can be justified. Lastly, committees of management, committees of business men, who think primarily of the finance of the hospital, welcome the crowded out-patient departments and repeated visits, oblivious to the fact that there is a limit to the medical officer's endurance and power of doing efficient work. The quantity of his work becomes more important than the quality. What seems specially objectionable is the tendency, which we deplore, to call upon insured persons entering a hospital to hand over to the hospital all cash benefits receivable under the National Insurance scheme. We hold strongly that if any contributions are asked for from individual patients — a system of which we do not approve — they should be entirely voluntary on their part, and unconnected with any provision which they may have made by insurance. 9
126/TG/RES/X/1036A/6 |
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |