The dispensary medical officer : his work and his pay.

Date:
1868
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: The dispensary medical officer : his work and his pay. 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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    Even if the time of the dispensary doctor was not wholly devoted to his dispensary duties, is no allowance to be made for the risk he runs in the performance of his duty, is no allowance to be made for the large sum expended on his education in becoming a member of probably one of the most expensive professions, and which remains unproduc- tive for so long a time, as a man must be twenty-three years of age to become a dispensary doctor. Take, on the other hand, the case of men connected with government and public offices, and even private mercantile establishments. In these cases, as a rule, it is not necessary to expend a large sum of money on an expensive profes- sional education. They enter on their duties at a much earlier age, say from sixteen to eighteen; in many instances they commence at that age with a salary as high as the dispensary doctor ever receives—their pay increases from year to year—their hours of business are, as a general rule, from ten till four or six hours—they can live wherever it may suit their health or their pocket, provided they are at their office at those hours, the rest of their time is abso- lutely at their own disposal; or if at any time they have any extra work, they receive extra pay—they have, as a rule, a longer or shorter holiday in the year, during which time a substitute is provided for them without any anxiety on their part, as well as when they cannot attend from ill health, and their salary runs on as usual, and in the ordi- nary way of business they are not exposed to any risk from infection—in all these cases, travelling expenses or allow- ances for the keep of a horse are given when the work cannot be reasonably expected to be performed without such aid. It is not too much to say that the dispensary doctor’s work in many parts of Ireland cannot possibly be performed without a horse, and even under more favour- able circumstances, as in cities, the number of patients re- quiring attendance at their own homes is so great, that car- hire forms no inconsiderable item of the dispensary doctor’s yearly expenditure. Now these gentlemen are paid on a much more liberal scale than dispensary doctors, they receive retiring allow-
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