The labour movement and the hospital crisis
1922 1922 1920s 21 pages hospital. Moreover, his services to the hospital would have been just as great an act of charity had it been under the control of the L.C.C. or Ministry of Health. In the future there will be as many opportunities of showing charity, both by gifts and service, as there are n...
| 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/C2F7D0AC-1D64-4392-AD9A-9B8CB11B1B8C http://hdl.handle.net/10796/19900DE3-C203-43D1-A16D-D43A03AE3F96 |
| Summary: | 1922
1922
1920s
21 pages
hospital. Moreover, his services to the hospital would have been just as great an act of charity had it been under the control of the L.C.C. or Ministry of Health. In the future there will be as many opportunities of showing charity, both by gifts and service, as there are now. England is still awaiting a great Institution of Research in all departments, such as the one in America, which has already been of great service to mankind and is pregnant with possibilities. The endowment of scholarships and lectureships or the provision of special annual lectures will then, as now, give opportunities to those who wish to help others. It will be as useful and as charitable in the future as now for the public to subscribe in order to endow a special hospital, a ward, or a bed to perpetuate the memory of some great individual who in life has served his country well. It will make no difference to the recording angel whether or not the hospital is controlled by the local health authority. It will make no difference to its usefulness to suffering humanity. The world is still searching for the cause of cancer; it is still looking for some sure method of preventing and curing consumption, the white man's plague; and whether or not hospitals are controlled by municipalities there will be opportunities for true "charity" in helping in these directions. There may be many things of use which the local health authority will not feel quite justified in providing out of the rates, but which will afford good opportunities to the charitable public of giving useful gifts to their fellow-men. As examples, may be mentioned operating theatres specially equipped for special purposes, costly apparatus, and new inventions, the value of which has not yet been completely established, as well as pioneer work of all kinds. To the truly charitable, opportunities of service are of even greater value than gifts in kind, and to these there can hardly be a limit even under a public medical service. Private initiative can feel the way towards additional services, for which in time the State might shoulder the responsibility. This has been the way in the past, and, unless the source of charity runs dry, is likely to be so in the future. Amongst the many services which have been tested by private enterprise and afterwards wholly or partially adopted by one or other of the public authorities may be mentioned health visitors, creches, maternity and child welfare clinics, baby clinics, school clinics, children's health centres, camp schools, open-air schools, the treatment of tuberculosis and the care and treatment of the feeble-minded. Along such lines as these those who feel called to service can always find work to hand. In a more limited way there will always be work for volunteers within the hospitals. There will be room for men and women of experience on many a committee, and for the personal service of lay-visitors to the patients in the wards, whilst their "after-care" when they leave the hospitals would be a service of immense value. Whether the hospitals remain on a voluntary basis or whether they are taken over and controlled by public authorities, there always must be unlimited opportunities for useful help and service. PRACTICAL STEPS TOWARDS THE IDEAL As it is impossible to procure the necessary increase of hospital accommodation by means of voluntary contributions, or even to maintain the existing accommodation without financial difficulties, it is inevitable that public funds must be employed in the interest of the health of the nation. The 16
126/TG/RES/X/1036A/6 |
|---|---|
| Physical Description: | TEXT |