DOCTORS AND THE PUBLIC
SIR,—You say in your paragraph under this heading that the White Paper on a National Health Service has " stolen a little of the B.M.A.'s thunder " and infer that the B.M.A. resents this. Nothing could be more inaccurate than this and in case it should appear in this light to any of your readers I shall be glad if you will permit me to correct this impression. Doctors have never contended that a National Health Service should be "run exclusively by doctors." What we do say is that doctors should have a voice in deciding on the type of organisation under which they will have to work and shall take a reasonable part in running the service. Many of us having served on Panel Committees and Insurance Committees have now had a good deal of experience in these matters. Would that the White Paper had stolen a good deal more of the thunder of the B.M.A. At the last representative meeting of the B.M.A. the following principle was approved:
" The health of the people depends primarily on the social and environmental conditions under which they live and work, upon security against fear and want, upon nutritional standards, upon educational facilities, and upon the facilities for exercise and leisure. The improvement and extension of measures to satisfy these needs should precede or accompany any future organisation of medical services." This principle should be sufficient to prove that the B.M.A. is thinking in terms of a real health policy.
During my eighteen years in practice as a family doctor I have seen the beneficial results of better housing, better working conditions, better feeding, and better facilities for recreation. I have watched families come from the slums into a new housing estate and seen the children of undersized ;ten and women grow into first-class adolescents. I have seen these children grow up and marry and produce some of the most beautiful children in the world, having an entirely different outlook on health and family responsibility from that of their parents. There is no doubt in my mind•that the deSiderata set out in the principle quoted above are infinitely
more important than any details of organisation. The doctors are the " workers " in any National Health Service and as such have a right to be heard in the settlement of their working conditions. Nobody need fear that a good service will be given if you have a contented profession.—
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