By Wilfrid Edgecombe, M.D., F.R.C.P., F.R.C.S.
The history of the Harrogate and District General
Hospital
The thorny question
The thorny question of some payment to the honorary medical
staff was at last settled in 1945. Originally mooted as long ago as
1933, the question was raised in 1937 and again in 1943, and it
encountered fierce opposition in some high quarters. However, by
patience, perseverance and reasoned argument, the promoters of the
scheme obtained recognition of the justice and equity of their
claim. At a special meeting of the board of management in October,
1945, it was agreed that a staff fund should be instituted and that
it should consist of 7½ per cent of the monies received from
the Contributory Scheme, from Approved Societies, and receipts from other bodies for services
rendered. Those from voluntary subscriptions were excluded.
The amount credited to the staff fund was a round figure of
£2,000 a year from 1945 to 1948 inclusive, when, with the advent of
the National Health Service, the scheme no longer was needed. This
amount of £2,000 was shared by no fewer than 27 participants - all
the members of the honorary medical staff.
Following on this, the chairman, Major C W Whitworth, an implacable opponent of the scheme, resigned from the board of
management after serving as such for twelve years, and Major J C
Hunter was appointed to succeed him.
In this year, 1945, is the first mention of the allocation to the
hospital of the remedy penicillin which has proved of such
incalculable benefit in a wide variety of diseases.
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