Letter addressed to the members of the House of Commons on poor law medical relief : with a proposed Bill, and commentary &c., &c. / by Richard Griffin.

  • Griffin, Richard, 1806-1869.
Date:
[1866]
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Letter addressed to the members of the House of Commons on poor law medical relief : with a proposed Bill, and commentary &c., &c. / by Richard Griffin. 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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    recommendation of the Committee of 1838, ‘ that the remuneration of Medical Officers shall he such as to ensure proper attention and the best medicines, and the Guardians will, doubtless, perceive that, unless the Medical Officer be. ade- quately remunerated, no vigilance on their part will suffice to secure proper at- tendance and medicines to the poor under their care.' ” The Poor Law Board, in their minute, dated October 31, 1840, say, “It is difficult to over-rate the importance to a Union of possessing a body of efficient paid officers. Without efficient paid officers no Union, of whatever size, can conduct its Poor Law business in an economical and satisfactory manner; although the vigilant superintendence of the Guardians is necessary to the well-working of the Union, it is not alone sufficient. Here and there an individual candidate, well-fitted fora Union Officer, may, from peculiar circumstances, be willing to accept it for an inadequate salary; but even he will, probably, after a short time, become dissatisfied, and will desire to transfer his services to some other Union, or to seek some other employment That this is true, is abundantly proved by direct evidence—for between two aud three hundred medical men have annually quitted the Poor Law service—evidence unimpeachable of something desperately bad in the system; had the majority of the officers been afforded sufficient means to do their duty to the poor, with but a slight remuneration for their ser- vices, they would not have resigned. These continual changes are the more to be deplored, as it is natural to conclude that the services of the Medical Officers become valuable in proportion to the experience they have obtained, and that such constant mutatiou is prejudicial to the best interests of the poor. Some of these vacancies, it is to be lamented, have arisen from death or diseases brought on in the discharge of their arduous duties; but surely, my Lords and Gentlemen, this is a still more powerful argument in favour of giving the Medical Officers a fair remuneration for their services. The Poor Law Commissioners, in June, 1848, could not help commenting in the following terms on this sacrifice of life ; they say, “It is to be lameuted that several medical men have lost their lives in the course of such attend- ance [typhus fever.]” Many other cases have been related to me : one says, “ My son has since sacrificed his life, by leaving bis bed, on the 6th of November, three times in one night, with the thermometer at six degrees below freezing, to answer the queries of a pauper.” Another, “ My husband died last month of typhus fever, caught from some Irish poor lie was attending.” A third, “My husband is quite prostrated with fever, caused by attendance on a midwifery case four miles off, when in the midst of profuse perspiration after takiug a warm bath ; on his return he was seized with rigors, and has never left his bed since.” During the last few years I have been four times laid.up with severe illness, caught in discharge of my Poor Law duties; and my son, whilst attending for me during one of these attacks, caught the snmll-pox from a pauper. He has since had typhoid aud scarlet fever, both caught from pauper patients. This loss of life and severe bodily suffering is remunerated by an average payment, throughout the kingdom, of 2s. 9£d. per patient. No wonder 744 Medical Officers quitted the service in three years. Many of the Poor Law Medical Officers have, at various times, indivi- dually addressed the Poor Law Board on the subject of their inadequate remuneration. A public memorial, numerously signed and agreed to, at a meeting over which the liight lion, the Earl of Shaftesbury presided, and other memorials from numerous Unions have been presented to the Poor Law Board, aud many hundred petitions to the House of Commons; notwith- standing all these appeals no redress has been obtained.