Observations on the arrangements connected with the relief of the sick poor : addressed in a letter to the Right Honourable the Lord John Russell, Secretary of State for the Home Department / by John Yelloly.

  • Yelloly, John, 1774-1842.
Date:
1837
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Observations on the arrangements connected with the relief of the sick poor : addressed in a letter to the Right Honourable the Lord John Russell, Secretary of State for the Home Department / by John Yelloly. 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.

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    When the new system of poor laws was introduced, I in- dulged the expectation, that, under their influence, the j)lan of medical attendance on the poor would be rendered more effi- cient and satisfactory. This has not however been the case, and I regret that the Commissioners, for whose talents and character I entertain the highest respect, have ea'-ly appeared to me, to have fallen into some misconceptions relative to me- dical men and medical practice, which it is the more necessary should be the subject of temperate and dispassionate observa- tion, because the same views are sustained in the second report which has lately appeared, and which comes forward with that augmentation of force and authority, to Avhich the increased experience of its authoi-s may naturally be supposed to entitle it. Anxiety to obtain professional employment has occasionally led young and efficient men, but much more frequently the ill-educated and ignorant, to unworthy compromises of the respectability of the profession. Previously to the year 1815, Avhen the Apothecary’s Bill came into operation, any one might call himself a surgeon and commence practice ;* and as we know how imperfectly even the best informed members of Have any of those points ever come under your own observation in any parishes.?—Certainly, I have known many inadequate payments. 1 have seen now and then inattention; but generally I am very happy iu saying, that I think the profession at large do themselves great credit by giving more attendance and medicine than the amount of stipend at all remunerates them for. Is it generally the practice in your part of Norfolk to farm the poor?—It is always the practice if there are not hundred-houses; but when there are hundred-houses, which unite many parishes to- gether, the surgeon is remunerated better by the number, than if he had one parish only at the same rate of payment. Is the price paid very often such as will not more than pay for the medicines?—Decidedly. I have heard of £5 being given at some miles distant: some of the medical men of Norwich have had parishes to attend at a distance of some miles, for not much more than that rate. * It may he proper to state, that by surgeon, I here mean the general practitioner, who practises all the branches of the medical profession.