14 MAY 1948, Page 17

PATIENTS AND DOCTORS .

Stir,—According to S. Watson Smith, a threefold increase in the numbers to be attended to by the doctors is anticipated when the new Health Service starts. Does this mean that two-thirds of the population of this country (30,000,000 people) are at present receiving no attention from the doctors ? Or does it mean that we shall all pay three times as many visits to our doctors ? If the former, it is certainly high time the medical service was in being ; if the latter, the doctors are surely capable of weeding out those who demand unnecessary attention.—Yours