Report as to the practice of medicine and surgery by unqualified persons in the United Kingdom.

  • Great Britain. Local Government Board
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Report as to the practice of medicine and surgery by unqualified persons in the United Kingdom. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

    4/92 (page 2)
    , c: A- i — C'ATt i. In November, 1907, the General Medical Council having had their attention called to the evils that attend the unqualified practice of medicine, appointed a Committee to ascertain what legal provision existed in the Colonies and Dependencies of the Emjnre and in Foreign Countries for the prevention of medical practice by other than legally qualified persons. The result, which was largely promoted by the he!]) given at the request of the Lord President of the Council, by the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, the Secretary of State for the Colonies, and the Secretary of State for India, served in the opinion of the General Medical Council to show that in many countries the laws for this purpose were much stronger than those of the United Kingdom, and in November, 1908, the Council proceeded to pass the following Resolution :— That the General Medical Council, being of opinion that the present Medical Acts do not sufficiently enable ' persons requiring medical aid ' ' to distinguish qualified from imqualified practitioners,' and that it is contrary to the interest of the public that medical and surgical practice should be carried on with impunity by persons holding no recognised qualifications, requests the Government to take steps for the appointment of a Royal Commission to inquire into the evil effects produced by the unrestricted practice of medicine and surgery by unqualified persons. Upon the receipt of this Resolution the Lord President of the Council deemed it expedient in the first instance to have recourse to ordinary means of information, and caused letters to be addressed to the Local Government Board, the Scottish Oflftce and the Irish Government, enclosing copies of the Resolution and ashing that a circular might be issued to the Medical Officers of Health in each country inviting their opinion as to whether the practice of medicine and surgery by unqualified persons is assuming larger propor<^ions, and as to the effect produced by such practice on the public health. The opinions thus obtained are collected in the present volume; and to the summarised results supplied by the Local Government Boards of England, Scotland and Ireland respectively there is prefixed in each case a Memorandum prepared in those Departments giving a general survey of the field covered by the enquiry. ALMERIC FITZROY. Privy Council Office, November, 1910,