SIR,—Mr. Murray says that he has adopted the term 'fringe'
to indicate those medical practices which are not available to the patient in the NHS as a matter of course 1 hope that I am on the same wavelength in suggesting that added to the groups he has dis- cussed there should also be the private fee-paying practice of the in-group itself, which must be pro- viding a large section of the public with services unobtainable under the NHS.
I am told that it is the accepted custom in this ],art of the world for consultants to recruit their fee-paying clients from among reluctant NHS patients, whilst giving some portion of their working hours to the public service. I am sure this is all perfectly legal, and well 'within the meaning of the Act,' but the situation surely justifies the ques- tion: can it possibly be in the interests of the medical profession to urge improvements in the NHS as long as private fortunes can be amassed from its shortcomings?--Yours faithfully,
A. D. LEWIS
21 Eskdale Close. Pen ylan, Cardiff, Glum
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