Doctors Out To Boycott Health Scheme

Chronicle (Levin), 21 February 1948, Page 5

Doctors Out To Boycott Health Scheme

(N.Z.P.A.-

Reuter .

, Copifright)

Rcceivorl Frxday, / p.m. LONDON, Feb. 19. The overwhelming majority by which the British medical prol'ossion has re' jected the Government . nationat health service leaves Mr. Aneurxn Bevan, Minister of Health, and the British Medical Association i'fl a posi tion from which neither caji ver\v wel. escape without making coneessions and "losing face. " At the moment neither shows thr sJighlest disposition to do this. JVlr Bevan, backed by a large majority xn Parliament, has announced that the existing panel svstem will eease. to oper-" ate on .Jyly 5 and will be replaced by the new ser'viee on that date. The B..M.A. backed by 89 per cent. of all registered medical prac-titioners, is committed bv this majority to boycott the new Act. This means that on .Tuly 5, when the panel svstem disappears, there will be nothing- . to replace it. All patients will then presumftbly revert to the old i'ree enterprise system of paying fees according to tlieir means. The Minister expected that a suF licie.nt number of doctors would back the scheme to allow him to put it into operation, at least on a sk?leton basis; but even this hope has been defeated by the size of the vote agaxnst the Act. It is estimated that the miniinuni number of general practitioners npcessary to work the scheme is 80(10, but of the 20,500 general practitioners on the register only .8563 "voted in favour of co-operation. This Jeaves llr. Bevan with Jess than half the number required to work even a skeleton service. I'nder these circumstances, it is extremely doubtful -whether the Government will be able to eollect the insurance contributions upon which the linancing of tlie new service is based, while, on the other hand, many doctors who rely mainly upon panel patients, will lind their incomes seriously diminished when the present system ee.ases. M ean while, the publie, as the Manchester Guardian puts it this morning, may be left to be ground between the. upper and the nether millstones ot Ihe Government and the B.M.A. Penalty For Refusal. Evidently JMr. Bevan hopes that the majority against his sclieine will be substantially decreased when the doctors actually come to the point of si£ning contracts. Atiy doctor who does not agree to work under the Act by .Julv 5, will automaticallv disqualit'v himself from receiving compensation for the loss of his private practice. The majority of the national newspapers do not support either side, but unite in urging both the .Minister and the B.M.A. in the pubiic interest to re-open negot iations. It. is pointed out that the establishment of the N'ational Health Service has been aecepted in prineiple not. only by the Government but also by the ( 'onservat ives, and that it is for the Minister and the B.M.A. to.settle the delails between them. Politieal Feeling. Inevilably, liowever, politieal feelings have entered into the dispule. The Conservati ve Daily Telegraph attribute.s much of the trouble to Air. Bevan 's "devastating unpopularity " among the medical profession and his melhod of handling the negot iations. The Labour Daily Herald on the other hand, claims that the dispute has been unfairiy used "to whip up antiBevan and anti-Labour emotion. " Mr. Bevan 's charges that the doctors' plebiscite would be irregularly conducteu — made in advance of the poll — and his accusation that the B.M.A. is indulging in a "squalid politieal conspiracy," have not improved the chanees of reeonciliation. The cost of the service to the individual is estimated to be 4s 7d a week for each employed man, 8s 7d for an employed woman, and 2s 8'd for an employ'ed youth under 21, and 2s 2d for a girl unxlef the same age. The estimated revenue from .these ; contributions is £701), 90(1 a week. , % ' *