Mr. Lloyd George's speech : explanations and warnings.
- Lloyd George, David, 1863-1945.
- Date:
- 1912
Licence: In copyright
Credit: Mr. Lloyd George's speech : explanations and warnings. 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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![lillings. That, undoubtedly, is thoroughly bad. j taken full advantage of it to create troubles tear, hear.) Underpaid work is shoddy work. |) the doctors and mvself. and remind ti ? 7 ; is not to the advantage of the doctor and it is not i 1 nd them that most > the advantage of the patient. It is far better that | s ausen from an amendment called the le doctor should feel that he is getting a fair wage tlannsworth amendment. But that exception simply flCilLs With PTKf.lnO1 wnrllfe one] U ~ 1 •. . . . * le doctor should feel that he is getting a fair wage >r the very difficult, dedicate, and responsible work rhich he has to accomplish. (Hear, hear.) All I ay is that if that is bad I am not responsible for it, md the Insurance Act is not responsible for it. The insurance Act does nob perpetuate, it; it does not ex- tend it. and certainly it did nor. create it. What Ido we do ? In so far as our Act is concerned all we have done is to provide a substantial fund which will increase by a very large percentage the pay the ! doctors now get for contract practice. The Doctors’ Grievances. The doctors have three great grievances. The first is that they object to what they call society control. Their complaint is that they are completely under the domination, or, as they put it, under the heel, of the local societies, which impose upon them harsh terms, I am not going to express any opinion about that. All I will say is that if the facts are true it is a real grievance. (Cries of “ They arc not true.”) I knew the members of friendly societies here would instantly protest, and I am not complaining because 1 their protests will be useful to remind the doctors that there arc two sides to the question. (Laughter . and cheers.) The second grievance of the doctors is this—They ‘ say “We do not mind attending men who are earn- ing low wages on contract terms, but wo do object to well-to-do people creeping into the friendly societies^ and claiming to be doctored on the same te.rms as labourer earning 15s. a week.” I have analysed : the membership of many friendly societies, and : undoubtedly I find they are by no means confined to 1 workmen. There are also tradesmen, farmers, publicans, schoolmasters, and professional men . among members of these societies, and the doctors say it is unfair to compel them to doctor these people at 4s. a head. I am sure the doctors will not quarrel with me for making this further statement. A doctor’s bill is charged on a scale which has reference to the deals with existing rights and it does not deal with the bulk of the insured persons. It does protect undoubtedly existing institutions, and I stand abso- luteiy by that. Whatever happens, speaking on behalf of the Government, wo decline to budge from that amendment. (Cheers.) ° But dealing with the new practice coming into existence under the Act what happens ? have set np an independent authority. It is true the insured persons constitute a majority, but th?t is in the very essence of things. You cinnnlS to ; committee the VoLr to they are not responsible to find, and rou must give a majority on a committee to the per-sons who responsible for the deficit if they mismanage j? But on that committee you have impartial representatives of the Government and ^o° S tatives of the County Council, and vou ^v^d^Ttcm ft be committee framingtheterra for the first time. That is not ail. The comS cannot arrange terms for paving , consulting the local medical committee Sre^entiS the whole of the doctors in that distrief !n,i ntm& that were not enough, we have allowed an appcaTte the Insurance Com miss oners even ‘1/ to the whole of the terms. Is that not nT Upon improvement upon tne present smem, “nere”® deal face to face with the societies without anv appea'l to anybody ? Income limit—What have we done there? We have empowered the loca.l insurance committee to fix an income limit in a district, and as the Insurance Commissioners have full powers with regard to approving contracts they will have a word to say upon that. But I want to give here one word of warning. , A Nationat, Income Llmtt. The fixture of a national income limit is impossible, and I will tell you why. Go to one of the mining districts. Supposing you fixed the income limit means of the The*docto?dS ™ H the workman the same fee for a visit that he charges L £ w k and no miner earning over a well-to-do tradesman or a professional man of a .wee^ could be doctored on contract terms, the same district. The doctor savs, verv trulv “ It That 1S a departure from a system which has been in is because I am able to charge these well-to-do patients exlstf,ncc in those districts for generations, and vou more that I am able to doctor workmen for less ” caimot work it. A miner may this year bo earning Trial is hi3 case. Under £2, and next year over £2. Is ho to be within What is his third grievance ? He says there are th,e ““t*?** whpn is earning 30s. and outside it districts in England and Scotland and Wales where ho 18 <?arnuig £2 a week ? You cannot work there is no contract practice at the present moment, L1' JPSr I“ner3J « Darham, Northumberland, and wnere the doctors have refused to treat a patient 8o?th Wal?s and 1110 other districts where vou have on contract terms, and where thev have the ordinary got, a co/ltfact, Practlce would not tolerate a de- relations between patient and doctor, which means Part\ircjo£ kind from a system which has worked that the doctor sends in his bill for time and aatlsfactoriIy in those areas for themselves and for attendance, bottles of medicine, and so on. There ihc tnedlcal profession. On tho other band vou are working-class districts in Lancashire where vou ,h^e got, dlstrlct,s whore a £2 limit would bo Verv have no contract practice at all. You have certainly JV?h’ ?',str whcr<; very {cw workmen earn anv- a very large number of rural districts where there is th“$, £? a. week. What happens if a man ‘is no contract practice ; and the doctors say, “ Whv oUtslde the income limit ? Is he to be left without foruce this obnoxious contract practice any, d?cloV. at all V ,pbcrc. *3 » special provision into districts where it does not exist ? ” I will give nV*de for turn, and I doing to point out to you :you my answers. The first complaint is of friendly what thuit provision is when I come to tho third ■society control. Under the Act they are no Ion cor ©Election of tho doctors. under the control of any society. ° '-The third objection of the doctors, as I pointed out Tire * 703 that m soino districts there is no contract nax- he Harms worth Amendment. tine at all, and those doctors vow that thev will never *»«—-w- ?»saw sstfs](https://iiif.wellcomecollection.org/image/b22439481_0011.jp2/full/800%2C/0/default.jpg)
