The labour movement and the hospital crisis
1922 1922 1920s 21 pages to a special and exceptional payment, merely because they have entered — sometimes entirely voluntarily — into an insurance scheme, appears to be imposing on them a novel disability. In the case of persons of small means suffering from tuberculosis, to pr...
| 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/BC5CBE22-8AD6-485D-833D-AAC0D827311C http://hdl.handle.net/10796/F589FFA4-E5EB-4757-86C2-477B3963F24F |
| Summary: | 1922
1922
1920s
21 pages
to a special and exceptional payment, merely because they have entered — sometimes entirely voluntarily — into an insurance scheme, appears to be imposing on them a novel disability. In the case of persons of small means suffering from tuberculosis, to press for any contribution — even more, the request to have handed over the whole cash benefits under the National Insurance Acts, which are nearly always absolutely needed for the maintenance of dependents during the absence of the breadwinner — is calculated to act as a deterrent, and to defeat the very object of the sanatoria. (e) Payments by Public Authorities A very considerable sum is paid by various public bodies to the Voluntary Hospitals for services rendered in the treatment of various people and various diseases, for whom and for which public authorities have shouldered the responsibility. According to Sir Napier Burnett,* the sum to be paid in 1920 to the hospitals of England and Wales, excluding London, was £570,325, which was made up as follows:— War Office and Admiralty £11,347 Ministry of Pensions 290,183 Infant Welfare and Maternity Work ... 18,522 Venereal Diseases ......................... .........................116,938 Tuberculosis 16,844 Education Authorities .................... ...........15,224 National Health Insurance Act 38,939 Details not given .......................... 62,328 £570,325 The number of hospitals receiving payments of this nature was 572, and the sums received amounted to 14.36 per cent. of their ordinary income. The increasing share of responsibility for the health of the nation shouldered by the State is to be welcomed, but it is to be regretted that, so far, the various contributing authorities are not represented on the boards of management of the hospitals receiving these public funds. (f) State and Municipal Grants There is undoubtedly an increasing feeling in favour of State and municipal grants in aid of hospitals. The Cave Report recommended a State grant of £1,000,000 for one or, at the most, two years, to help the hospitals over what is considered to be a temporary difficulty, and the Government has adopted the recommendation to the extent of allotting £500,000 for the purpose. Its distribution is to be entrusted to Voluntary Hospital Committees under a Hospitals Commission. It is to be practically a free gift without conditions as to the way in which it is to be spent or the class of patients to be relieved, and no provision is made for the representation of public bodies on the distributing committee or on the boards of the hospitals which receive grants. In clause 2 of the Miscellaneous Provisions Bill, 1921, it was laid down that County Councils and County Borough Councils should be empowered interalia to give subsidies to Voluntary Hospitals. The Bill was dropped, so that this never came into force ; but it shows how things are tending. * Report on the Financial Position of the Voluntary Hospitals in England and Wales (excluding London) for the year 1920, pp. 9, 10, 11 and 20. 11
126/TG/RES/X/1036A/6 |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | TEXT |