From the Observer archive: this week in 1947

[Northerner]

It is very easy and plausible to argue that since a National Health Service is due to start next year the right course for doctors is to join it and try to make it as good as possible, even though they may disagree with some details in it. But more than details are involved. Since Mr. Bevan insists on a basic State salary, a doctor in the Service will depend for part of his income on retaining the approval of the authorities; he will no longer have only his patients and his professional conscience to satisfy. And if he is dismissed he will have no appeal to the Court; Mr. Bevan refuses him this right.

The purpose of a National Health Service is to bring a full range of medical facilities within reach of all who need them whatever their means. This excellent aim has long been widely approved by doctors, many are convinced it could be achieved without making doctors State servants. Proposals for amending the Act so as to meet most objections were put to the Minister by the BMA Negotiating Committee and rejected. The issue therefore becomes one of principle, which every doctor must decide for himself.

https://www.theguardian.com/news/2017/dec/24/from-the-observer-archive-this-week-in-1947

 

[mikeyB]

Had to sell the family silver to get the GPs on board, though. They are still independent contractors who have their cake and eat it, with nice NHS pensions. If the government had bitten the bullet and made them direct employees like hospital doctors, the NHS would be in a better state than it is now, particularly on the GP front. Now it seems like a no brainer.

Still, life is always easier seen through the retrospectoscope.

 

[grovesy]

Had to sell the family silver to get the GPs on board, though. They are still independent contractors who have their cake and eat it, with nice NHS pensions. If the government had bitten the bullet and made them direct employees like hospital doctors, the NHS would be in a better state than it is now, particularly on the GP front. Now it seems like a no brainer.

Still, life is always easier seen through the retrospectoscope.

Half at my surgery are salaried GP.

 

[mikeyB]

All of mine are salaried. Most highland GPs are. It’s simply not viable to fund a practice any other way because of the low number of patients in a practice area. In our surgery, it’s around 600.

 

[grovesy]

I watched a BBC series recently on medics in Shetland and some Is
And had not ha a permanent GP for ages.

 

[mikeyB]

We haven’t had a permanent GP for three years. I can’t understand it to be honest, it’s such an easy life. When I was a single handed GP my patient list was not far short of the population of Mull, where 5 GPs work. You do need A&E experience, mind, but you can get live TV advice in the hospital from experts in Glasgow in the emergency room.