HC Deb 24 February 1921 vol 138 cc1160-1W
Sir D. HALL

asked the Minister of Health if, as the result of an earlier system of record cards of insured patients, the cards proved to be useless and were practically unexamined, large quantities of cards being sold as waste paper; and does he anticipate a better fate for the new cards?

Dr. ADDISON

Under the earlier system of record the cards were by no means useless, and were destroyed only after having served their purpose, but their value for clinical purposes was gravely impaired because at the end of every year they were surrendered, and the particulars as to the names of the patients and their illnesses separated. It was because of this inherent defect in the old cards that the new records have been designed by a committee mainly composed of members of the medical profession, who gave fuller place (and, in my view, rightly so) to the clinical objects of the record, and so designed a form which might serve as a continuous record of insured persons' illnesses. These records will undoubtedly be of great value, and I may add that the keeping of them gives insurance practitioners less work than the old records.

Sir D. HALL

asked the Minister of Health what is the position of a panel doctor who makes an inaccurate statement regarding the diagnosis of a disease on the new record card of an insured patient whereby that patient is subsequently damnified; and whether, if the panel doctor is liable to pay damages in such cases, provision will be made to indemnify him in respect of an error in a document which he is compelled to compile under conditions which often render accuracy difficult or impossible?

Dr. ADDISON

I do not understand what particular contingency the hon. and gallant Member has in mind, but I am advised that in the absence of negligence on the part of the doctor no liability for damages could possibly arise in this connection.

Mr. MILLS

asked the Minister of Health if his attention has been called to the alleged callous conduct of a panel doctor in East Essex, who, although requested to attend a case of maternity on the morning of 17th January, and being repeatedly visited by the husband, failed to attend until 7.45 a.m. on the 18th, during which time the poor woman died, as did the two babes; whether this doctor is the sole medical practitioner on the panel in a vast rural area; and whether, as a result of this tragedy, the whole question will be investigated?

Dr. ADDISON

My attention has not been called to the case referred to by the hon. Member. I would remind him that medical benefit under the Insurance Acts does not include treatment in respect of a confinement, but if he will furnish me with the facts of the case, I will certainly cause inquiry to be made, with a view to seeing whether the matter is one in which the Department can properly take any action.