Report of the Royal Commission on National Health Insurance

Bibliographic data

Monograph

Identifikator:: 1740277147

URN:: urn:nbn:de:zbw-retromon-132094

Document type:: Monograph

Title:: Report of the Royal Commission on National Health Insurance

Place of publication:: London

Publisher:: Stationery Office

Year of publication:: 1926

Scope:: XII, 394 S.

Digitisation:: 2020

Collection:: Economics Books

Usage license:: Get license information via the feedback formular.

Chapter

Document type:: Monograph

Structure type:: Chapter

Title:: Minority report

Collection:: Economics Books

MINQRITY REPORT. 39217 for insured women of a scheme of comprehensive provision of all services required from the time that the woman is first known to be pregnant to the time when she has recovered from the effects of confinement and such schemes have . . . . been con- sidered by . . . . the Department, and discussed with representatives of the medical profession. As regards the uninsured wives of insured men, the difficulty of including this class . . . . arises from the fact that in their case there is at present no provision of general practitioner services such as are afforded by medical benefit.” (Maclachlan Q. 24,159.) 105. The high maternal death rate and the great amount of sickness amongst mothers clearly prove the need of reorganisation and extension of maternity work. Witnesses directed our attention to the Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer to the Ministry of Health, in which it is shown that 2,847 women died in childbirth in 1924, and that there has been no diminution of the maternal mortality rate for the whole of the period since the Act.came into operation. 106. In no fewer than three recent publications of the Ministry of Health, viz., the Annual Report of the Chief Medical Officer for 1924, °° Public Education in Health,” and ‘° Maternal Mortality,”” it is made abundantly clear that ‘‘ much of this maternal mortality and sickness could be prevented by proper supervision of the expectant mother ; >’ that ** avoidable maternal deaths are a matter of everyday occurrence,” and that ‘if a woman can rely upon securing the services of a careful, up-to- date practitioner, or upon the attendance of a well-trained mid- wife, who is able to obtain prompt and competent medical assistance in case of need, nearly all other conditions become of minor importance.’’ 107. The close connexion between the absence of adequate services during pregnancy and at confinement, and the heavy incidence of sickness among married women was referred to by witnesses (National Association of Trade Union Approved Societies, Q. 22,057; Standing Joint Committee of Industrial Women’s Organisations, Q 28,027; Maclachlan, Q 24,226) and may be best illustrated by the following quotation from Sir George Newman’s preface to °° Maternal Mortality :”’— “ Returns reveal only part of the damage done. An incalculable amount of unreported and often untreated injury and ill-health results from pregnancy and labour,” and *‘ 3,000 mothers a year die and tens of thousands of young mothers are unnecessarily damaged or invalided every year. (Public Education in Health.) There is also a close connexion between the absence of adequate services for expectant mothers and the infant mortality rate. While the death rate of infants under the age of one year is about one-half that of 25 years ago, the death rate of infants up to 4 weeks old is 33 per 1,000 births in 1924 against 38 per 1,000 births in 1912 (the commencement of the Act).

Access restriction

Copyright

fullscreen: Report of the Royal Commission on National Health Insurance

Monograph

Chapter

Table of contents

Download

Monograph

Chapter

This page

Image fragment

Citation links

Citation recommendation