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
