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Health care - and paying for it
In 1901, there was no National
Health Service providing health care for all. Nevertheless,
free health care was available for some at teaching hospitals
- particularly in London, which had the largest number - and
at workhouse infirmaries. On the night of the 1901 census,
there were 1,460 hospitals (nearly 450 more than in 1891)
with 39,184 in-patients. The provision of health care for
most of its citizens was not seen, however, as a function
of the state.
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Doctors and dentists treated private patients - who were not
all well-to-do - for a fee. Evidence given to a Royal Commission
on the Poor Laws, published in 1909, claimed that some of
'the poorest working class' paid as private patients. A surgery
consultation generally cost between 2s and 2s 6d at the bottom
end of the scale. There was also the 'sixpenny doctor' (as
described in So Long Ago, Joseph Stamper's autobiography
set in St. Helens, Merseyside) who charged 6d for a visit,
6d for a surgery consultation and 6d for a bottle of medicine
that he dispensed himself.
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David Green's study, Working-Class Patients and the Medical
Establishment, concludes, perhaps surprisingly, that at
this period 'some kind of medical care was available to everyone,
even if it was only the Poor Law. No one at all went without,
unless by choice.' Medical insurance, based on regular payments,
was very popular among those on lower incomes, although not
everyone would have been able to afford it. In 1901, there were
7,090 registered friendly societies with a total of 2,807,823
members, together with perhaps about the same number again in
unregistered societies, as well as 86 medical societies with
298,691 members.
Patent medicines
Over-the-counter remedies were
very popular in 1901. These often contained laudanum, based
on opium. According to Robert Roberts in A Ragged Schooling,
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In a society where few could afford the services of a doctor
- indeed, the mere visit to one conferred a certain status
on a family - patent medicines and their efficiency were a
standard topic for discussion. People swore by this and that,
often drugging themselves into a stupor…The taking of
opiate drugs was far more widespread than it is today, and
the problem in fact more serious, but very few people realised
it.
In the past, working people had depended more on traditional
herbal and folk cures than on professional medical advice.
In the 19th century, such cures had been increasingly
overtaken by branded patent medicines, promoted by aggressive
marketing campaigns and sold over the counter through some
40,000 outlets by 1905.
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The National Archives > Exhibitions > 1901 Census
