§ 66. Sir H. CRAIKasked whether a domestic servant, being an insured person, who receives medical attendance from the family doctor at the cost of her employer, may be deprived of sickness benefit be cause that doctor is not on the panel and therefore his certificate may not be accepted by the local insurance committee?
§ Mr. MASTERMANAs I have stated many times in answer to similar questions, the local insurance committees have nothing whatever to do with sickness benefit for members of approved societies. The question of requiring satisfactory evidence of sickness, whether by certificates or otherwise is entirely a matter for the committee of management of the approved society, subject to appeal to the insurance committee under Section 67 cf the Act.
§ 67. Sir H. CRAIKasked whether, considering that it is a breach of medical etiquette for doctors to divulge the ailments of their patients, and that patients often object to any specific statement in regard to this being made public, it is sufficient to enter on the sickness certificate that the insured person is disabled by illness or accident, as the case may be, leaving any specific statement which may be required for statistical purposes to be entered in the doctor's private day book?
§ Mr. MASTERMANAs I stated in my answer to my hon. Friend the hon. Member for North Somerset on the 13th January the arrangements for the keeping and furnishing of records by doctors secure that information which would connect the name of a patient with an entry as to a particular kind of disease, could not be obtained by the Commissioners, committee, or society. The nature of the evidence which a society accepts in support of a claim to sickness benefit (which has no connection with the form of record kept by the doctor for the purposes of the Medical Benefit Regulations) is primarily a matter for the society. If any question arises between such a claimant and his society as to the sufficiency of any certificate tendered by the claimant for this purpose, that question will have to be determined by the Commission under Section 67 of the Act.
§ Sir H. CRAIKDo we understand that these private statistics will not be attached to any name?
§ Mr. MASTERMANStatistics which are taken for general statistical purposes are records which will be altogether independent of the names, and cannot be attached to them.
Mr. WORTHINGTON-EVANSIs it not a fact that the part of the record which goes to the committee has the name upon it, and the part of the record that goes to the Commissioners has the disease upon it, so that the committee gets the name and the Commissioners get the disease?