NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE SCHEME
Sm,—In The Spectator for December 15th " Janus " states " there is no evidence that the patients as a whole, meaning the voters of the country, are in the least opposed to the National Health Service."
What proportion of these patients have any but the vaguest idea of what this scheme involves? I have discussed the subject with many -people belonging to what we still term the " middle class," and about 8o per cent. express strong distaste for the idea of attending a health centre. There may be greater efficiency, with the help- of the attendant nurses and secretaries and keeping of case records, but much of the confidential relationship between doctor and patient will inevitably be lost. I think most general- practitioners will admit that this personal factor plays a considerable part in treatment.
As a doctor, I believe I should have a more secure and easier life working under a State Medical Service, but I should dislike to be a patient under it, and it is thinking as a patient that I (and I believe
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