[Report 1954] / Medical Officer of Health, Canterbury Borough / City & County.

  • Canterbury (England). City & County Council.
Date:
1954
Catalogue details

Licence: Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)

Credit: [Report 1954] / Medical Officer of Health, Canterbury Borough / City & County. Source: Wellcome Collection.

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    worthy of study, for the different sections are not private empires, but are a commonwealth for health. For instance, could cost be controlled^ by a closer integration of the work of outpatient treat- ment clinics and the home nursing and health visiting services, which might allow patients whose frequent attendances for physiotherapy, gymnastics or occupational therapy are only possible by ambulance transport, to maintain similar progress by occasional attendance and intermediate home supervision by local health authority staff provided with a guide to the practice to be followed by the patient ? I may of course be seeking to bring the mountain to Mohammed, but such thinking is necessary. In concluding this preface to the 1954 report may I sum- marise the situation. The National Health Service is a good one. It IS costly but worth it. It is paid for in one way or another from a single source, the nation’s pocket. Any abuse of it is picking that pocket. We must sharpen our conscience on the manner in which we use it. We must avoid sectionalism and integrate curative and preventive. We must keep our minds open to new ideas on the balance of cost and value, and on improvement and development of the service. Your obedient servant, MATCOLM S. HARVEY.