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Medical war relief fund
J~ANUARY
PUBLIC HEALTH medicine). This cannot be remedied by whittling down the present curriculum or by instituting higher diplomas. The sure way is to separate dentistry into its two components, surgery and prosthesis, and to create two sets of practitioners--the fully qualified surgeons and the appliance makers. This would bring dentistry into line with orthopaedics, ophthalmology, and plastic surgery. We do not expect the orthopaedic surgeon to fit the artificial limb, and we do not expect the artificial limb maker to be a quasi-surgeon or comparative anatomist. The same applies to the care of the eyes. In plastic surgery, and in the application of radium to the oral cavity, general surgeons frequently instruct the dental prosthetic assistant directly. He carries out the work and fits the appliance according to the surgeon's instructions. The training of dental prosthetists would be much shorter and consequently less expensive than for dental surgeons. Prosthetists would be controlled, as the opticians are now controUed, by a suitably constituted Board. Much, if not all, of their training could be carried out in technical schools. It would be necessary to scrap the present L.D.S. examination ; but, as has been explained, this was a diploma of convenience and it is now anachronous. Another observation is that little use has been made of the provision in the Dental Act of 1921, enabling trained dental nurses to be employed by public authorities for such prophylactic measures as scahng and polishing the teeth and charting the presence of carious cavities, The trend of modern dental surgery is towards prevention and we know that the incidence of both dental caries and gingivitis can be much diminished by hygienic measures carried out by the patient under adequate supervision. The main reason for not encouraging the employment of dental nurses seems to be the fear that this would be the thin end of a wedge of unqualified practice, and that these nurses would wish to do more ambitious work and so circumvent the rigid requirements of the Act. It must be remembered, however, that at the time the Act was framed in 1921 unqualified practice had become rife, and the framers of the Act were apprehensive of loop-holes for quackery. I n twenty-years we have passed beyond this stage and can recognise the advantages of employing women--or m e n - - i n the same way as applies to massage and medical electricity. Fundamental changes cannot be made easily and least of all can they be made by the profession. A mixed Commission should now be set up to hear wimesses and make a report, so that when the war is over and large numbers of ex-Service men and women are being absorbed into civilian life again the machinery will be ready to help them to play their part in this most pressing need of the social service.
MEDICAL WAR RELIEF F U N D In September, 1940, the Medical War Relief F u n d was inaugurated to pi'ovide temporary assistance for British medical practitioners and their dependants who find themselves in financial straits as a direct result of war conditions. At the end of that month the first appeal for subscriptions was published in the medical Press. T h e response, both from individual practitioners and from medical organisations, has been most encouraging, and by the end of September, 1941, the contributions to the Fund had reached the total of approximately £34,000. T o a l l who have subscribed so generously the Committee of the Fund wishes to express sincere thanks. 92
It will not be considered invidious to refer, in particular, to the splendid help received from medical practitioners overseas who have not forgotten the needs of their colleagues in the home country. A cable has recently been received from the British Medical Association in Australia, intimating a donation of £4,500 (Australian) contributed by members in that country. This is additional to the total of £34,000 already received. T h e Malaya Branch of the B.M.A. has contributed more than £800, and a first contribution from the Canadian Medical Association, consisting entirely of subscriptions collected from doctors in British Columbia, amounts to nearly £850. Other generous donations have been received from organisations in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and Uganda, as well as from individual practitioners in various parts of the Empire.
REMUNERATION OF M.O.S OF~FIRSTAID POSTS A N D MOBILE UNITS T h e following revised scale, agreed on between the Ministry of Health and the Central Medical War Committee, will operate from January 1st, 1942 : (a) for an attendance for a period not exceeding half an hour, 10s. 6d. ; (b) for an attendance for a period exceeding half an hour but not exceeding one hour, £1 is. ; (c) for an attendance for a period exceeding one hour, £1 ls., plus 10s. 6d. for each additionalhour or part of an hour. These payments arc not subject to the m a x i m u m of £3 8s. per day operating under the existingarrangements. Notice of the change should be given as soon as possible to all medical practitioners attached to the Schememaking Authority's First-Aid Posts or Mobile Units. A matter not dealtwith in previous instructionsissued to scheme-making authoritiesis that of the payment to bc made to doctors called to their first-aidposts to attend civil defence workers injured in the course of their duties. It has been decided that payment in these cases shallbe on the same basis as for fir-raidcasualties, and the scale above mentioned will,therefore,apply.
RECRNT APPOINTMENTS IN THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE The following are some recent appointments to the health departments of various local authorities. The Editor will be grateful if members of the Society will notify him at once of any new appointments. BUaZON-oN-TR~ C.B. : M.O.H,, Dr. W. Alcock (C.M.O.H., Westmorland C . C . ) . LANCS C.C. : A.M.O.H., Dr. Hazel I. Ashford. M~RTON & MOP~SN U.D. : A.M.O.H., Dr. Evelyn B. G. E w e n (A.M.O., L.C.C.). SOUTHAMPTON C.B.: Deputy M.O.H., Dr. W. P. Cargill (A.M.O.H., Manchester C.B.). STmLn~O C.C. : A.M.O.H., Dr. H. J. Fraser. STOCKTON-ON-TEF~ M.B. : M.O.H., Dr. John Landon (Deputy M.O.H., Tottenham M.B.). i
Professor F. C. Bartlett, F.R.S. (Professor of Experimental Psychology in the University of Cambridge) has been appointed a member of the Medical Research Council in the vacancy caused by the death last July of Professor A. J. Clark, v.s.s.
PUBLIC HEALTH medicine). This cannot be remedied by whittling down the present curriculum or by instituting higher diplomas. The sure way is to separate dentistry into its two components, surgery and prosthesis, and to create two sets of practitioners--the fully qualified surgeons and the appliance makers. This would bring dentistry into line with orthopaedics, ophthalmology, and plastic surgery. We do not expect the orthopaedic surgeon to fit the artificial limb, and we do not expect the artificial limb maker to be a quasi-surgeon or comparative anatomist. The same applies to the care of the eyes. In plastic surgery, and in the application of radium to the oral cavity, general surgeons frequently instruct the dental prosthetic assistant directly. He carries out the work and fits the appliance according to the surgeon's instructions. The training of dental prosthetists would be much shorter and consequently less expensive than for dental surgeons. Prosthetists would be controlled, as the opticians are now controUed, by a suitably constituted Board. Much, if not all, of their training could be carried out in technical schools. It would be necessary to scrap the present L.D.S. examination ; but, as has been explained, this was a diploma of convenience and it is now anachronous. Another observation is that little use has been made of the provision in the Dental Act of 1921, enabling trained dental nurses to be employed by public authorities for such prophylactic measures as scahng and polishing the teeth and charting the presence of carious cavities, The trend of modern dental surgery is towards prevention and we know that the incidence of both dental caries and gingivitis can be much diminished by hygienic measures carried out by the patient under adequate supervision. The main reason for not encouraging the employment of dental nurses seems to be the fear that this would be the thin end of a wedge of unqualified practice, and that these nurses would wish to do more ambitious work and so circumvent the rigid requirements of the Act. It must be remembered, however, that at the time the Act was framed in 1921 unqualified practice had become rife, and the framers of the Act were apprehensive of loop-holes for quackery. I n twenty-years we have passed beyond this stage and can recognise the advantages of employing women--or m e n - - i n the same way as applies to massage and medical electricity. Fundamental changes cannot be made easily and least of all can they be made by the profession. A mixed Commission should now be set up to hear wimesses and make a report, so that when the war is over and large numbers of ex-Service men and women are being absorbed into civilian life again the machinery will be ready to help them to play their part in this most pressing need of the social service.
MEDICAL WAR RELIEF F U N D In September, 1940, the Medical War Relief F u n d was inaugurated to pi'ovide temporary assistance for British medical practitioners and their dependants who find themselves in financial straits as a direct result of war conditions. At the end of that month the first appeal for subscriptions was published in the medical Press. T h e response, both from individual practitioners and from medical organisations, has been most encouraging, and by the end of September, 1941, the contributions to the Fund had reached the total of approximately £34,000. T o a l l who have subscribed so generously the Committee of the Fund wishes to express sincere thanks. 92
It will not be considered invidious to refer, in particular, to the splendid help received from medical practitioners overseas who have not forgotten the needs of their colleagues in the home country. A cable has recently been received from the British Medical Association in Australia, intimating a donation of £4,500 (Australian) contributed by members in that country. This is additional to the total of £34,000 already received. T h e Malaya Branch of the B.M.A. has contributed more than £800, and a first contribution from the Canadian Medical Association, consisting entirely of subscriptions collected from doctors in British Columbia, amounts to nearly £850. Other generous donations have been received from organisations in Australia, Canada, Hong Kong and Uganda, as well as from individual practitioners in various parts of the Empire.
REMUNERATION OF M.O.S OF~FIRSTAID POSTS A N D MOBILE UNITS T h e following revised scale, agreed on between the Ministry of Health and the Central Medical War Committee, will operate from January 1st, 1942 : (a) for an attendance for a period not exceeding half an hour, 10s. 6d. ; (b) for an attendance for a period exceeding half an hour but not exceeding one hour, £1 is. ; (c) for an attendance for a period exceeding one hour, £1 ls., plus 10s. 6d. for each additionalhour or part of an hour. These payments arc not subject to the m a x i m u m of £3 8s. per day operating under the existingarrangements. Notice of the change should be given as soon as possible to all medical practitioners attached to the Schememaking Authority's First-Aid Posts or Mobile Units. A matter not dealtwith in previous instructionsissued to scheme-making authoritiesis that of the payment to bc made to doctors called to their first-aidposts to attend civil defence workers injured in the course of their duties. It has been decided that payment in these cases shallbe on the same basis as for fir-raidcasualties, and the scale above mentioned will,therefore,apply.
RECRNT APPOINTMENTS IN THE PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE The following are some recent appointments to the health departments of various local authorities. The Editor will be grateful if members of the Society will notify him at once of any new appointments. BUaZON-oN-TR~ C.B. : M.O.H,, Dr. W. Alcock (C.M.O.H., Westmorland C . C . ) . LANCS C.C. : A.M.O.H., Dr. Hazel I. Ashford. M~RTON & MOP~SN U.D. : A.M.O.H., Dr. Evelyn B. G. E w e n (A.M.O., L.C.C.). SOUTHAMPTON C.B.: Deputy M.O.H., Dr. W. P. Cargill (A.M.O.H., Manchester C.B.). STmLn~O C.C. : A.M.O.H., Dr. H. J. Fraser. STOCKTON-ON-TEF~ M.B. : M.O.H., Dr. John Landon (Deputy M.O.H., Tottenham M.B.). i
Professor F. C. Bartlett, F.R.S. (Professor of Experimental Psychology in the University of Cambridge) has been appointed a member of the Medical Research Council in the vacancy caused by the death last July of Professor A. J. Clark, v.s.s.