LETTERS TO THE EDITOR
From : Dr. C. G. Elliott, Sarah Gainhant, Alastair Scott, M. M. Carlin, George Edinger, D. D. Mitchell, Terence de Vere White.
Dr. Cameron's Casebook
Sut,—Your editorial has had its chuckle over the GPs and their elderly leaders, but is it realised that the archaic organisation of the British Medical Asso- ciation and its resolution over policy persist because of the loss, by emigration, of so many young doctors?
We, who have hoped and worked for years to alter things, know that the spirit of the profession is: 'Put up with the NHS—or emigrate' Struggle, for the most part, is considered a waste of time.
Certainly the College of General Practitioners' report seems a bright light in a gloomy picture. I have not read it, but I should imagine that it is a typical effort from Dr. John Fry. He is popularly regarded as a sort of conjuror. Everybody admires his effects, but nobody knows how they are per- formed. The danger is that he will encourage minis- terial thought that all the GP needs to solve his problems is a bit of enterprise, the district nurse, and a few concessions from the Review Body next spring.
Indeed, one feels that they would not be too dis- composed should the general medical services col- lapse. It would end the cumbrous, untidy individualism and make way for a neater, more eco- nomical organisation.
This is a disastrous misconception. General prac- tice may be likened to a dam, which holds back and consumes a mass of undifferentiated work, 'and trickles a selection to the specialists, who, with their Seventeen years' training, are expensive figures, to be used sparingly. Already the poor state of general practice is overburdening them and a further decline would place an intolerable load on the hospitals. The trouble is that the Ministry will only find out its mistakes when it is too late.
The only answer to the NHS problem is the intro- duction of government-sponsored insurance schemes, keeping the flee service for the 10 per cent who really need it. Is it really beyond the political system of this country to introduce such a scheme before disaster overtakes the NHS—rather than after? It will come in the end anyway.
C. 0. ELLIOTT
Rosemount, East Hoathly, Nr. Lewes, Susses
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