Social services in Britain.

  • Great Britain. Central Office of Information. Reference Division.
Date:
1977
Catalogue details

Licence: Open Government Licence

Credit: Social services in Britain. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    19/92 (page 13)
    practitioners are free to take private patients. Consultants employed part- time in NHS hospitals are free to treat private patients in their private consulting rooms or in private hospitals; under this arrangement most of their time is spent working for the NHS and the remainder devoted to their private practice. Some consultants work entirely for their private practice and many work full-time for the NHS. THE HEALTH PROFESSIONS Professional standards in the health professions are maintained by the practice of registration as only those people on the medical and dental registers may practise as doctors and dentists in the NHS. The registering bodies lay down the appropriate training and experience required for admission to the register. The minimum qualification for a doctor requires five or six years’ training in medical school and teaching hospital; full registration is obtained after a further year in approved hospital posts. For a dentist four or more years at a dental school are required. The registering and governing body of the medical profession is the General Medical Council and that of the dentists is the General Dental Council. Dental auxiliaries (who undergo a two-year training course) and dental hygienists (who undergo a nine-month course) may carry out some simple dental work under the direction of a registered dentist. The minimum period of hospital training required to qualify for registration as a nurse is normally three years. Training may be in general, sick children’s, mental or mental subnormality nursing. An enrolled nurse takes a two-year course. After experience as a qualified nurse, specialised courses are available. The examining bodies of the nursing profession in England and Wales and in Scotland are the General Nursing Councils; midwives must have the certificate of the appropriate Midwives Board. In Northern Ireland nurses and midwives must have the certificates of the Northern Ireland Council of Nurses and Midwives. Health visitors are registered general nurses who have undergone at least the first part of the midwifery course or obstetric nursing before taking a year’s course in health visiting promoted by the Council for the Education and Training of Health Visitors. District nurses are state registered or state enrolled nurses, the majority of whom have undertaken additional training. Pharmaceutical chemists have to be registered with the Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain or, in Northern Ireland, with the Department of Health and Social Services. Registration requires a three- or four-year first degree course plus one year’s pre-registration experience working under the supervision of a pharmacist. Dispensing of doctor’s prescriptions can be carried out only by, or under the supervision of, a registered pharmaceutical chemist. The General Optical Council regulates the professions of ophthalmic optician and dispensing optician. Only registered ophthalmic opticians and registered ophthalmic medical practitioners may test sight. Training of ophthalmic opticians takes four years including a year of practical experience under supervision. Dispensing opticians may take a two-year full-time course with a year’s practical experience or a part-time day-release course while employed with an optician.