The Government's refusal to impose what are known as "hospital
charges" in hospitals, i.e. to exact from patients kept in the hospital for a period of several weeks some proportion of what they would have spent on food at home, is no doubt wise; the financial gain would not be commensurate with the protest and irritation likely to be caused. But hospital finance as a whole does call for examination. The disparity between what a patient in a private room and a patient in a general ward has to pay—in the latter case nothing—is considerable. There is first the cost of the room itself, anything up to twenty guineas a week, then the specialist's fee (for general prac- tioners have not access to hospitals), an anaesthetist's fee, probably a pathologist's fee and possibly a radiologist's. In many cases all these processes are necessary, and a patient who prefers a private room is assumed to be able to pay for them. Fortunately there are provident associations in which one can insure against such liabilities, and some of them are generous in their settlement of claims.
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