The Minister of Health agreed that the Cabinet should first discuss the question of principle: it was for that reason that he had refrained from discussing in his memorandum the details of any possible charges. Ministers had in fact considered this question already, in the discussions in the Economic Policy Committee in October 1949, about the reduction of Government expenditure (E.P.C. (49) 34th and 35th Meetings); and he had been under the impression that they had then satisfied themselves that the principle of charges should not be applied generally throughout this Service. A large proportion of the total expenditure on the Service was incurred by the hospitals, and there would be great difficulties in recovering a “hotel” charge from the occupants of hospital beds. For a wide range of hospital treatment, particularly in Scotland, no charge had ever been made even before the introduction of the National Health Service. And the deduction of sickness benefit which was already made after the recipient had been in hospital for more than eight weeks was in effect equivalent to a charge. Even if it were now decided that hospital patients should contribute ten shillings a week from the date of their admission to hospital the total revenue raised could not exceed £10 million. And he could not predict how much of this total would in fact be recovered; for he was satisfied that, if such a system had to be introduced, it must be operated by the National Assistance Board and not through a revival of the almoners’ functions in the hospitals, and he could not say what criterion the Board would apply in determining the patient’s capacity to make such a contribution. In the dental service he did not favour the introduction of charges: he would prefer to proceed by way of closer scrutiny of the dentists’ claims, if the Treasury would agree to the appointment of not more than twenty inspectors for this purpose. In the ophthalmic services he was prepared to reduce the choice of spectacle frames provided free of charge, and to increase the charges made for other kinds of frames; and he expected to secure by this means a saving of £1.
- Aneurin Bevan: An appreciation of his services to the health of the people. Pamphlet published by the Socialist Medical Association about 1960
- NHS debate House of Commons 30 July 1958
- Local Government Management of the Hospitals, 12 March 1954
- In Place of Fear 1952: (Essay on A Free Health Service)
- Resignation speech 23 April 1951
- Cabinet Discussion 9 April 1951
- Bevan’s speech to the Institute of Hospital Administrators 5 May 1950
- Cabinet discussion 3 April 1950
- Bevan’s speech on the introduction of the prescription charge 9 December 1949
- Bevan’s speech on the estimates 17 February 1949
- Bevan’s speech to the Executive Councils Association 7 October 1948
- Bevan’s speech to The Society of Medical Officers of Health 16 September 1948
- Bevan’s speech Preston 5 July 1948
- Bevan’s speech “lower than vermin” Manchester 4 July 1948
- Bevan’s speech to the Royal College of Nursing 2 June 1948
- Pioneers of Public Health 7 May 1948
- Bevan’s speech to the House of Commons on the Appointed Day 9 February 1948
- Bevan’s speech at East Glamorgan County Hospital 17 January 1948
- Bevan’s speech to The Society of Medical Officers of Health 20 September 1946
- Bevan’s speech to the Royal College of Nursing 21 June 1946
- Bevan’s speech on the Second reading of the NHS Bill 30 April 1946
- Bevan’s speech to the Institute of Hospital Administrators, 6 April 1946
- Correspondence between Somerville Hastings and Bevan 1946
- Correspondence between Dr David Stark Murry and Bevan, February and March 1946 – from the SHA archives, Hull University
- Cabinet Memorandum Proposals for a National Health Service 13 December 1945
- Cabinet Memorandum The Future of the Hospital Services 5th October 1945
- Bevan’s speech to the Royal Medico-Psychological Association, 5 September 1945
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