Speech delivered at the annual meeting of the Birmingham and Midland Branch of the British Medical Association, held on June 14th 1867, on the present rate of remuneration of the medical officers to sick assurance societies / T. P. Heslop, M.D.

  • Heslop, Thomas Pretious.
Date:
[1867], [©1867]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Speech delivered at the annual meeting of the Birmingham and Midland Branch of the British Medical Association, held on June 14th 1867, on the present rate of remuneration of the medical officers to sick assurance societies / T. P. Heslop, M.D. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

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    him, but the half-crown of many more besides who were not ill, or, if ill, preferred another doctor. What are the facts? One or two of the clubs in Birmingham publish the medical labour of the year, and it would be well for the medical profession if they were all compelled to do so. Publicity dispels many delu- sions, as it exposes many wrongs. I am about to destroy this pleasant fiction, so far as the largest, best organized, and lowest paying club in this town is concerned. I hold in my hand the twenty-sixth annual report of this particular club. It has no less than 6,638 members. This constitutes a town. Several towns of such magnitude return two members to Parliament. The report says, The medical attendance department has been of immense service to the members during the past year; 5,170 members availed themselves of medical attendance and medicines, at a total cost of £8^6. 5s., being about 3s. 3d. per medical case. The average duration of sickness for each member sick was five weeks two days and a half; average rate of sickness /or each member of the society, eight days. Now, this society has an accu- mulated fund of all but ^30,000. Its annual income is ^10,000. The balance on the year's (1866) business in the sickness assurance department amounted to 7^3,568, nearly iis. per member, ex- clusive of the interest on the invested funds. How many surgeons are there % Nine. Some of them are in firms of two or three. The sum of money divided among these nine gentlemen for the medical superintendence of this town of 6,638 members, 5,170 of whom actually demanded medical aid during the year, was ;io 836. What now becomes of the statement that only an insignificant number of the members of clubs require medical attendance] or, of that other delusion, that the great sums derived from these