Report of the National Institute of General Practitioners in Medicine, Surgery and Midwifery, on the present state of the medical reform question.

  • National Institute of General Practitioners in Medicine, Surgery and Midwifery.
Date:
1848
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report of the National Institute of General Practitioners in Medicine, Surgery and Midwifery, on the present state of the medical reform question. 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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    Towards the termination of the Session of 1840, an individual Member of Parliament introduced a “Medical Registration Bill, which did not progress further than the first stage. In the Session of 1847, a change of Ministry liaving taken place, the Council of the National Institute of that year adopted the usual means of acquainting the Right Honorable Sir George Grey, as Principal Secretary of State for the Home Department, with the case of the General Practitioners, and of renewing their application for n Charter. The Right Honorable Gentleman gave the most patient attention to the statements made by a Deputa- tion, who received from him, in reply, the assurance thathe should certainly not bring into Parliament any Measure of Medical Reform to wliich the General Practitioners were not concurrent parties; promising at the same time to refer to tlie Draft of the Charter which had been arranged under bis predecessor’s admi- nistration, and to give it his best consideration. As the Session of 1847 progressed, another “Bill for the Registration of Qualified Practitioners, and for amending the Law relating to the Practice of Medicine in Great Britain and Ireland,” was introduced into the Legislature; commonly known also as a “ Medical Registration Bill,”—conveying an erroneous impression as to its real character and tendency. The Bill was opposed by nearly all the influential bodies in the Profession. The Council of the Institute opposed it as inimical to the interests of the General Practitioners and of the Public; they were heard, by Deputation, by the Right Honorable Sir George Grey, at the Home Office; and their objections, in which they were unanimous, were embodied in a Petition to the House of Commons. Those objections, together with some of the prin- cipal features of the Bill, are contained in the following adver- tisement, bearing date May 27th, 1847.
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