Report of deputation to Minister of Health on "A National Health Service"...
1945-03 1945 1940s 8 pages -7- could be taken in difficult cases of diagnosis. Very soon they hoped to be able to integrate the works doctor system into the National Health Service but there were a multitude of interests involved. Dentists, ophthalmists, consultants, private practitioners, local a...
| Institution: | MCR - The Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick |
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| Language: | English English |
| Published: |
March 1945
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| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | http://hdl.handle.net/10796/6C327C46-7BB4-471D-8FE4-46F5E2A8BD0A http://hdl.handle.net/10796/86E6DBA8-AC1F-4711-A5BA-0E64C1DB061F |
| Summary: | 1945-03
1945
1940s
8 pages
-7- could be taken in difficult cases of diagnosis. Very soon they hoped to be able to integrate the works doctor system into the National Health Service but there were a multitude of interests involved. Dentists, ophthalmists, consultants, private practitioners, local authorities etc. were all involved and if too many conflicting interests were introduced the Bill would not be introduced within the dying months of the present Government, and they were very anxious to get the substance of the White Paper on the Statute Book. It would take all the backing by such organisations as represented at the meeting to get the Bill through as there were so many vital interests involved that the fewer extraneous issues brought into it, the better. If they were able to get the hospitals, the consultant services and the health centres established and working under a 100 per cent. scheme then a very great step would have been achieved and it would be much easier filling the blanks in later on. In the course of discussion and questions, the Ministers made the following additional points. They had not made agreements with the B.M.A. or the B.H.A. because the consultations were not yet completed and they did not intend to make bargains. They were matters which they were prepared to consider and discuss with the Cabinet. There were two powers proposed for the Central Medical Board which created some measure of excitement, and they were the proposal that a young doctor for the first few years of his practice would in certain areas have to undergo a restriction against any private patients whatever, and that on any public service practice coming to an end through death or retirement, the appointment of the successor would be a matter for licence by the Central Medical Board. Both of those proposals were with a view to getting a better distribution of medical manpower. In regard to the first they thought it would be difficult to refuse to let patients go to a certain doctor if they wished. Any advantage to be gained from that procedure was not worth the opposition it would provoke. The question then arose as to whether they could define certain localities in which it was desirable to have some regulative licencing machinery. The more they had discussed the question, the more difficult it became. There might be a lot of doctors in certain areas because they liked to live in that area. The question of distribution had arisen in 1912 on the introduction of the National Health Insurance Scheme. Experience suggested that the new service would of itself modify the distribution a great deal, but they were inclined to drop the two directive measures proposed in the White Paper. They proposed to take steps to effect a better distribution but not by the process originally devised, and the matter was being discussed at the present time. They felt that if they introduced the direction of doctors to particular areas, they would probably have to direct them to impoverished areas at the risk of getting a disgruntled service. As an alternative they thought other means should be found of making those impoverished areas attractive to young doctors. They wanted to make quite sure that those who undertook the public service should not suffer in regard to the opportunities which the Goodenough Report made available to the profession, and there should be no disadvantages accruing to those young doctors. There would be a limit on the number of patients a doctor
292/847/3/118 |
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| Physical Description: | TEXT |