§ 34. Mr. RONALD M'NEILLasked the Secretary to the Treasury whether his attention has been called to an inquest held on the 19th of April concerning the death of an insured person, Elias Friend, an agricultural labourer, at West Hougham, Kent; whether the coroner's jury commented on the fact that there was no panel doctor at West Hougham and expressed the opinion that if the deceased had had medical attendance his life would probably have been saved; and whether, having regard to the fact that on 27th March, a fortnight before the death of Elias Friend, the hon. Member for the St. Augustine's Division called the Chancellor of the Exchequer's attention to the need for a panel doctor at West Hougham, and that the Financial Secretary then stated that he would make inquiry into this particular case, he can now give an undertaking that insured persons in this village shall be no longer deprived of the benefits to which they are entitled under the National Insurance Act?
§ Mr. MASTERMANI have seen a newspaper report of this case, from which it appears that the man was found dead in bed, and that the doctor who conducted the post-mortem examination attributed his death to pneumonia, accelerated by alcoholism. The report states, not that his life would probably have been saved, but that his life might have been saved if he had been medically examined. Although there is no practising doctor actually resident in the village, either on the panel or off, arrangements have been made whereby every insured person in the village can be placed upon the list of a doctor who has expressed his willingness to treat them, and public notiees to this effect have been posted up in the village.
§ Mr. R. M'NEILLWhen was that arrangement made?
§ Mr. MASTERMANI cannot say when the arrangement was made. From the beginning of the Act insured persons have had the opportunity of choosing a doctor.
§ Mr. R. M'NEILLDoes the right hon. Gentleman remember that on 27th March he answered a question put by me? He then said he would make special inquiries into the case. Does he realise the gravity of the situation, that men's lives are being sacrificed?
§ Mr. MASTERMANAll the doctors possible in that area and all who have lived in that area are on the panel. It is quite impossible for the Government to put a doctor into every hamlet in the country.