Seventh report from the Select Committee on Estimates : together with the proceedings of the committee on 25th May, the minutes of evidence taken before sub-committee D and appendices, session 1948-49 : the administration of the national health services.

  • Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Select Committee on Estimates
Date:
1949
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Seventh report from the Select Committee on Estimates : together with the proceedings of the committee on 25th May, the minutes of evidence taken before sub-committee D and appendices, session 1948-49 : the administration of the national health services. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    Q. 495, Q. 556. Q. 566. Qs. 552-8. XVI SEVENTH REPORT FROM THE reference to the dental staff. One such category comprises estimates for the extraction of a number of teeth for people who require dentures and who are not below a certain age. Since approval for this type of case is given without further inquiry, Your Committee find it difficult to see why dentists should be put to the trouble of submitting their estimate for automatic approval by clerical staff. Your Committee © recognise that the complications of dentistry make it difficult to eliminate these cases and appreciate the necessity for maintaining adequate checks of treatment undertaken, but they recommend that the Departments concerned should examine the schedule of cases requiring prior approval by Dental Estimates Boards, and should, if possible reduce the number of such cases. (e) Supplementary Ophthalmic Services 1948-49 (9 months) 1949-50 Original Revised. Estimate Estimate . 3 ba £ Class V, Vote 2, Subhead D.5, England ... | 2,000,000 | 12,900,000 | 11,716,000 Class V, Vote 2, Subhead H.5, Wales 80,000 600,000 704,000 Class V, Vote 14, Subhead D.5, Scotland 250,000 1,470,000 2,250,000 34. These Services provided another example of the original Estimate for 1948-49 being a gross under-estimate of the sum actually required. The total original Estimate for Supplementary Ophthalmic Services amounted to £2,330,000. The sum it was eventually found necessary to ask for was £14,970,000, or more than six times the original amount. 35. When asked on what basis the original estimate had been framed, the Accountant General of the Ministry of Health stated that the cost for a whole year was assumed to be about £3,500,000, on the basis of experience gained under the National Health Insurance Act. The comparable figures under the old and the new scheme are :— Population served Cost £ Health Insurance [1946 figures] 9,500,000 1,200,000 National Health Service [Original Estimate for 1948-49 scaled up for 12 months] : ..» | 42,852,000 2,773,000 The priority service for schoolchildren and nursing and expectant mothers was estimated to bring the population eligible for the general service down to 30,000,000. Thus, though the population for whom spectacles were available had increased by over three times, the cost was estimated at little more than double the former cost. 36. Not only did the Ministry fail to take full account of the increase in the number of people to whom the service was to be available, but they also under-estimated the cost of providing spectacles. It was