should like to endorse the lament of "Senex " about
the situa- tion under the N.H.S. 'of patients who " could" pay. When we became N.H.S. patients the doctor made it unmistakably clear to us that we could not expect the same attention as private patients. We changed doctors, but we still feel that—in calling in a doctor—we are just one more nuisance added to his day, since he gets our capitation fee whether we need him or not. Personally I find this situation so distasteful that—far from taking undue advantage of the " free " service as people are said to do—I should have to be very ill indeed before I sent for the doctor.
It seems to me that this is a very serious defect of the N.H.S. in its present form. Capitation fees as such are not large, and a sick N.H.S. patient is just one more nuisance to the busy G.P. One does not expect a solicitor to take on extra work without any extra advantage to him- self; why should one expect all doctors- to be charitable angels ?
It seems to me that it would be better if every citizen received a " National Health Allowance," issued in the form of vouchers along with the ration-books. These would be paid out to doctors for visits. The doctor would cash them with the Ministry of Health. Unused vouchers turned in at the end of each year would bring the owner a small bonus (a premium on good health, and an, incentive to the doctor.) Hospital treatment could be free as at present, but doctors would be less keen on getting rid of their patients by sending them in, and the hospitals would be less overcrowded. Also there would be a little healthy competition, as in the past, among general practitioners, since the good doctors in the neighbourhood would necessarily attract most of the N.H. vouchers.— Yours, &c., PANDORA.
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