Report and evidence into the pay, status and conditions of service of medical officers of the army, with evidence concerning the Indian Service.

  • Great Britain. War Office. Committee Appointed to Inquire into the Pay, Status, and Conditions of Service of Medical Officers of the Army.
Date:
1890
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Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Report and evidence into the pay, status and conditions of service of medical officers of the army, with evidence concerning the Indian Service. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by Royal College of Physicians, London. The original may be consulted at Royal College of Physicians, London.

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    of it, Then he can never be made much better by getting a Fellowship through an examination and a payment of money. 868. Nothing more than that ?—No. 869. Still as long as the thing exists, ought not facilities to be placed in the way of medical oflBcers (if all grades alike ?—I quite agree with yon ; I see what you mean: that it does operate hardly on those ' in foreig-n service who have not an opportunity of iualifyiug by means of fellowship. 870. My question was directed more to that than to the question of whether it was a good thing or not. Do many officer.s avail themselves of that ?—I know several who have. I know a man who is now trying to qualify through that portal, who failed to qualify through the ordinary examination some years ago, and had been passed over. 871. You look upon it as a sort of back-door ?—I will not say so, but I look upon it as having no rela- tion whatever to the technical duties of a medical (ifficer as an administrative olScer, 872. Tfie Chairman. Have you any further state- ment thai you would like to make to the Committee ? —May I make a statement with regard to the general iluties of medical oflScers? 873. Certainly.—I would like to say that the duties f a medical officer are, in their exacting nature, unlike those of any other oflScer ; the medical oflScer works every day of the week, night and day; his duties,and the possibihties of his duties, never cease; and I think this excessive strain is one of the chief I'auses of the very large percentage of breakdowns in health, and loss of life which the Medical Depart- !aent sustains compared with other departments of tlie army. I think this has not been sufficiently 1 ecognized as a reason for gi^'ing not only good pay 1 (ut early retu-ement. I think that has very often been overlooked when a comparison is made between the '■ost of medical officers and another set of officers in pay and retirement-; they forget the incessant work, nd possibilities of work, and consequent strain that - on medical officers. I speak from personal experi- nce. I was never safe for many years of my career 10 eat my dinner in quietness, or to go to my bed with the certainty of getting undisturbed sleep. 874. Mr. Macnamara. Do you think yourself that it a less amount of pay and pension and so on were -iven, yon would get anything like an efiScient set of medical men to enter the Service?—I do not. My voungest son is studying medicine at the present moment, and it entirely depends on the condition the department is in at the time he becomes qualified, \vhether I allow him or recommend him to come into ir. That is a fair sample of feeling at present. .S75. But you have no fault to find with the pay - it exists at the present time?—Not the least. I link it is both good and sufficient to attract as good en as you could wish to come into the Service. {The Witness u-ithdrew). >i rgeox-General Charles D. Madden, examined. 876. The Chairman. Where are you serving at the I iresent time ?—I am at Netley Hospital. 877. Are you only recently returned from foreign ser\'ice ?—Only a fortnight ago. 878. After how many years' foreign service ?—I liave been this last time seven years and a few months, and 1 was fom- and a half years abroad before that, with 8 months' interval between the two. 8^0. And how long has your service been in the army?—I am in my thirty-fifth year now. 880. \ou have heard, no doubt, of the discontent I the medical service owing to the abolition of lative rank by the Warrant of 1887 ?—Yes. 881. Do you think that that discontent is widely spread?—I think so. (•2508) 882. And in the lower ranks of the service, the junior ranks'?—Yes, they all feel it. 883. You think the complaint is general?—Yes. When the Warrant abolishing relative rank came out, there was certainly one case I know of where a senior officer of the department was told in the mess room that he had no rank ; that has happened within my experience. I can certainly say that it happened in one case. 884. Do you yourself consider the grievance to be a real one ?—Personally I cannot say I do. 885. When you say personally, do you mean with regard to yourself; or that it is your opinion that this want of rank does not act prejudicially in the Service?—I think it acts prejudicially. Personally, I have not been actually in contact with men and officers of late years; my work has been chiefly inspecting, and office work. I have not felt the pressure that others complain of. 886. So long as the 1884 Warrant was in force, was this grievance felt to the same extent ?—I think it was. 1 think that the recent Warrant abolishing all rank brought matters to a head; that perhaps, if this recent regulation had not been made, matters would have gone on smouldering. 887. Then in your opinion the Warrant of 1887 was merely the occasion, and not the cause, of the complaint?—I think so, certainly. 888. To what do you ascribe the oiigin of the com- plaint ?—As the medical officers have entire com- mand in iheir hospitals, and over their own men, the want of rank is felt on that account in the first place; and, in the second place, it is felt socially. 889. I presume you mean that that want has always been felt?—Yes. I think that, socially, the loss of rank was a great misfortune. 890. When you say the loss of rank, do you mean that the officers have sustained an absolute loss of rank by the aboUtion of the term relative rank ? — Yes, I think they have absolutely. They have no rank at present; and it has been cast in their teeth in more cases than one. I speak of India. 891. What change would you j-ourself propose?— I think there is only one way of meeting the difficulty, ^-iz., by granting army rank, or substantive rank; I believe it is now called army rank. 892. It is virtually the same thing, is it not ?—Yes. 893. With, of course, limited command ?—Yes; not beyond their own sphere. 894. You say that the want of rank has been more felt in India than at home; to what do you ascribe that?—I did not mean to convey that; it has been felt very much in India, but I will not say that it has been felt more there than in England. 895. Mr. Macnamara. You said, I think, that you had only had experience in India ?—Yes, in recent years. 896. The Chairman. Have you yourself, when serving in India, felt the want of rank ?—Not per- sonally. 897. Because you have been chiefly emploj-ed in an administrative capacity ?—Yes, entirely of late years, during the 12 years I spoke of. 898. You are aware, of course, that considerable objections are entertained to giving to medical officers army rank ;—Yes, I am. 899. And are you aware of the reasons for those objections being entertained ?—I believe the reason is that it would interfere with the Executive. It was thought, I know, that it would interfere with the Executive. 900. For social purposes, and other purposes of that kind, the medical officers do, at the present time, rank with other officers, do they not.''—They are said to have relative rank; but, at the same time, relative rank is abolished. 901. But, as a matter of fact, they do rank with the other officers, do they not, when they are together ; at least it is so printed in the Army List ?—Yes, it is printed so in the Army List; but the relative rank carries no weight or status with it. F