Hospital Boards and Social Security

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22376, 13 April 1938, Page 10

Hospital Boards and Social Security

In his evidence to the Parliamentary Committee on National Health and Superannuation the Director-General of Health. Dr, M. H. Watt, dealt with a very interesting question which arises out of the ’Government’s social security scheme—the question whether, in view of the wide extension of pensions benefits that is contemplated, hospital boards should be relieved of the function of administering charitable aid. Dr. Watt argues that “ even under the comprehensive and reasonably generous scales of “social security benefits proposed” the need for supplementary benefits in special cases will remain, and that hospitals boards are best fitted for the task of administering this supplementary relief. This reasoning is not easy to follow. The central authority which administers social security benefits will of necessity keep full records of the circumstances of beneficiaries and their families and will therefore be in a better position to know when additional benefits are justifiable. To bring hospital boards into the picture merely increases the possibility of overlapping and of fraud. Moreover, although the social security scheme cannot remove entirely the need for some provision for special cases, it will certainly reduce substantially the number of such special cases. In the past most of the charitable aid granted by hospital boards has been to families in which the breadwinner has been incapacitated by sickness. If pensions are granted for both sickness and invalidity, this class must be substantially reduced. It will then be a question whether hospital boards will find it worth while to maintain an adequate staff for, dealing with charitable aid. No authority can deal effectively with the problem of charitable aid, and particularly outdoor Belief, unless it has e per-

manent inspecting officer and unless it maintains close contact with other public and private organisations with responsibilities for social welfare. It may be suggested that by far the simplest solution of the question discussed by Dr. Watt is to vest control of all forms of pensions and relief in one administrative agency, and to leave to private charitable organisations the task of helping those who are not adequately helped by the State.