NATIONAL HEALTH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 23068, 20 June 1938, Page 8

NATIONAL HEALTH

AUSTRALIAN SCHEME OPPOSITION BY DOCTORB PANEL SYSTEM CONDEMNED • [from oxth own correspondent] SYDNEY, June 9 A further statement of the views of the general practitioners of New South Wales on the Federal Government's National Insurance Bill is published to-day. This says: "We have the experiences of our colleagues who have done panel practice in England and are now practising here. In England most panel doctors have large lists, meaning that often in one consultation period of approximately two hours, as many as 100 patients are seen. It is quite impossible to attempt to examine patients under these conditions, the average time spent on each patient being approximately 60 seconds. "Such routine procedures as taking temperatures, examining throats, and even the fundamental use of the stethoscope, are dispensed with. Thus serious cases, such as early tuberculosis, early pneumonia, the dread infantile paralysis and surgical emergencies can easily be overlooked, with resulting danger to life, and the possibility of spreading infection to others. This cursory examination can only lead to careless and slovenly methods on the part of the practitioner, who cannot be held responsible when it is the system that is at fault. Dread of the Proposed Service "The public will he told that the British Medical Association in England states that the service there is excellent, but we can assure the public that the British Medical Association in England has no idea of the standard of service the Australian public demands, and rightly so. We wish it to be understood, emphatically, that it is the patient's welfare that we are studying most, and after that, our standard of practice, which we wish jealously to guard, and in future raise rather than lower. "We dread the thought of the service 'that is to be meted out to the public—a service such as the people of Australia would never tolerate, and moreover, should never be asked to tolerate." A Sydney doctor to whom the working, of the health insurance system in England is known, said that a panel doctor on a busy morning might have 100 patients waiting. It was impossible to give them individual attention in the time available, so a clerk, who kept the patients' index cards, would call out: "All those with coughs and colds, please come in." Danger of Hurried Examinations Twenty or 30 patients would then enter the surgery, and as examination was impossible, they were given stock prescriptions by number, the doctor merely making notes on each index card. Among the patients might be one who had diphtheria. He was given oough mixture, but in a' couple of days he would be back for more treatment. This time the doctor would really examine him, and he would be riished to hospital, but the delay of 48 hoars might cause his death. "All with pains in the stomach," and "all with were other calls heard in the waiting-room of the English panel doctor.