How the minority report deals with the sick, the infirm, and the infants / The National Committee to Promote the Break-up of the Poor Law.

  • National Committee to Promote the Break-up of the Poor Law
Date:
1909
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: How the minority report deals with the sick, the infirm, and the infants / The National Committee to Promote the Break-up of the Poor Law. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

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    untold amount of aggravation of disease, personal suffering and reduction in the wealth-producing power of the manual working class. 4. That the operations of the Poor Law Medical Service, being controlled by Destitution Authorities and administered by Destitution Officers, inevitably take on the character of unconditional “ medical relief ”—that is, relief of the real or fancied painful symptoms—as distinguished from remedial changes of regimen and removal of injurious conditions, upon which any really curative treatment, or any effective prevention of the spread or recurrence of disease, is nowadays recognised to depend. 5. That whilst domiciliary treatment of the sick poor is appropriate in many cases, it ought to be withheld: — (i) Where proper treatment in the home is im- practicable; (ii) Where the patient persistently malingers or refuses to conform to the prescribed regimen; or, (iii) Where the patient is a source of danger to others. It has become imperative in the public interest that there should be, for extreme cases, powers of compulsory removal to a proper place of treatment. Such powers cannot, and in our opinion should not, be granted to a Destitution Authority. 6. That where Destitution Authorities cease to abide by the limitation of their work to persons really destitute, or pass beyond the dole of “ Medical Relief,” their attempt to extend the range or improve the quality of the Poor Law Medical Service brings new perils. We cannot regard with favour any action which, in order to promote treatment, openly or tacitly invites people voluntarily to range them- selves among the destitute; or which tempts them, by the prospect of getting costly and specialised forms of treatment, to simulate destitution. Nor do we think that an Authority charged with the relief of destitution, whatever its method of appointment, or whatever the area over which it acts, or any authority acting through officers concerned with such relief, whatever their official designation, can ever administer a Medical Service with efficiency and economy. 7. That, with regard to the suggestion that the medical treatment of the sick poor should be left either to provident medical insurance or to voluntary charity, it has been
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