MAJORITY REPORT. 
(QQ. 1051) as to the special conditions in certain districts such as 
Chelsea and Kensington, and to the very interesting suggestions 
of the British Medical Association as to possible explanations 
(Q. 14,623-14,658). 
70. We also think it desirable to direct attention to the 
criticisms made by the Incorporated Society of Pharmacy 
and Drug Store Proprietors on the pricing of drugs, which are 
submitted in Appendix LXVT, paragraphs 11-16, and Q. 18,275 
to 18,312. This criticism caused us some concern, especially as 
none of the other professional bodies directed our attention to 
these matters. We took opportunity later to examine the repre- 
sentatives of the Ministry of Health on the question. (See Brock 
and Smith Whitaker, Q. 23,872-23,890.) The representatives of 
the Incorporated Society appear to have exaggerated the defects 
in the Drug Pricing procedure, and we are glad to be reassured 
that the arrangements are ag satisfactory as can be expected 
in dealing with the widely varying systems of supply of drugs 
and in adapting the tariff to the fluctuations of the commercial 
market. 
71. We may complete this part of the subject by a reference 
to the volume of individual complaints dealt with under the 
elaborate machinery set up for that purpose. The following 
quotations from the evidence of the Federation Committee of 
the English, Scottish and Welsh Associations of Insurance 
Committees may be taken as fairly representing the position :— 
“ All reports of the Services Sub-Committees have since 
April, 1920, been sent ky Insurance Committees to the 
Ministry and during that period about 1,700 cases have been 
investigated, the number for 1993 being 411, representing 
3:4 per hundred doctors or per 100,000 insured persons *’ 
(App. XXXVI, 116). « Complaints against chemists are 
very rare indeed '’ (App. XXXVI, 118). *“Whils there 
are instances of dereliction of duty in individual cases, the 
insurance medical and pharmaceutical services can in the 
main be regarded as efficient *’ (App. XXXVI, 129). 
PRIVATE AND INSURANCE SERVICE. 
72. We turn now to a subject on which there has been, and 
may still be, a certain amount of public misgiving, We refer to 
the suggestion frequently made in the early days of the scheme 
and still heard occasionally, that doctors and chemists deliberately 
give to insured persons a service inferior to that given to 
their private patients. We have questioned many witnesses on 
this matter, €.g., see Brock, Q. 1051-3; Ancient Order of 
Foresters, Q. 4111; Cheshire Insurance Committee, Q. 12,465 ; 
British Medical Association, Q. 14,620-14,622 ; Roberts, Q. 
16,101. We are glad to say that, except for some rather contra- 
dictory evidence given by witnesses from the Nationa] Conference