The Panel Doctor
• 1(As. 6d.)
THE family doctor or general practitioner of today is nearly always panel doctor; and it is to panel doctors that practically the whole of the working men and women of this country look for medical treatment. The panel system hasnow been in opera- tion for 20 years ; so that we should have at our disposal sufficient experience of its working to enable us to form a rough estimate of its actual achievements and of its poteh- tialities. The system had a very bad start. Medicine is an art the value and efficacy of which depend very largely on the good will of those who practise it; and it is unfortunate that Mr. Lloyd George and his advisers did not take more trouble, when introducing the Health Insurance. Act, to enlist the interest and co-operation of the organized medical profession. Most of those who entered the service did so reluctantly, from sheer financial necessity. It soon became obvious that, so far as their pockets were concerned, panel doctoring paid the doctors very well. But the initial sulkiness persisted subconsciously as a curb on enthusiasm. For some years past, a new spirit has been growing up within the service ; and it is probably fair to say that the majority of panel doctors today give to their insured patients the best of their skill and knowledge so far as the bureaucratic con- ditions and limitations allow. The virtues of the system are many. It gives to the doctor a truly professional status, freeing him from the sordid ignominy of haggling for fees and demanding money payment as a condition of relieving pain or saving life ; and, at the same time, it enables poor people to select from neighbouring practitioners the one in whose ability and sympathy they have most confidence.
But many defects have become obvious. With under- standing on the part of the administrators and a more uniformly good spirit among the doctors, most of these defects could easily be remedied, even within the framework of the existing Act. With many of these limitations the writer of this book deals critically and, on the whole, helpfully.
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