Sick paupers and their medical attendants : an exposé of the fraud inflicted on the sick poor, and the ratepayer, in the employment by poor-law medical officers of unqualified assistants / by C.H.

  • Holmes, C.
Date:
1878
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Sick paupers and their medical attendants : an exposé of the fraud inflicted on the sick poor, and the ratepayer, in the employment by poor-law medical officers of unqualified assistants / by C.H. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The Royal College of Surgeons of England. The original may be consulted at The Royal College of Surgeons of England.

    18/24 (page 18)
    Dr. Harrow (St. Luke’s) : “ I was five years without one, and would not have to find one now, if I had not had a fall out with the Clerk.” In the order of the Local Government Board, by which the Medical Officer is compelled to name a substitute, no mention is made as to abode, or place of residence, and an ingenious course is frequently adopted, by which the object of the appointment is entirely defeated. Two Officers of Districts, living several miles apart, nominate each other with the understanding, implied or agreed, that they shall never be called on to act, and as the letter of the laiv is observed, the practice is allowed to pass unnoticed. The writer is acquainted with cases where the Sick Paupers are frequently left for a week, or more, to the sole charge of an Unqualified person, the substitute not being even aware of the absence of the Principal. Every person who has closely watched the progress of events during the past three or four years, must have observed that the general rise in wages, coupled with the pecuniary losses sustained by occupiers of land, has created a feeling of bitter hostility on the part of landlords, and farmers, towards the agricultural labourer, and this feeling has had its effect on the action of Boards of Guardians in Rural Districts. The Out-Door (including Medical) Relief has been cut down to the lowest possible dimensions ; but, on the other hand, they have been reckless as regards expenditure in Salaries of Officials, and we have as a result, that every Union is provided with a Palatial Staff* whose emoluments have increased pari-passu with the diminution in the amount of work required of them. We have before us a return of the Wycombe Union, where _ the cost of maintenance and Out-Door Relief together amounted to only <££>,889 ; whilst the total cost, including establishment charges, amounted to £15,297. With an absence of effective supervision by the London Board, and a deficiency of knowledge of the working of the law by the Guardians, the paid officials perform their duties, each in a manner which to himself seems most agreeable, and a tacit understanding exists amongst them that the negligence of one officer shall not be noticed by another; hence a remedy for the many evils which have crept into the working of the medical division of the Poor-Law Service, is imperatively called for.