Revolt at "the Vic"

Medicine and surgery had gone along smoothly for half a century at the little (44-bed), red brick Victoria Hospital in Kingston-on-Thames, 17 miles upriver from the Houses of Parliament. By & large, patients and doctors were well satisfied with what they called "the Vic."

Last week the Vic was a battleground. Its medical staff and house committee had rebelled against an order from a regional committee of Britain's National Health Service, which had ruled that the Vic must take no more general patients but must get ready to function as a gynecological unit of the big (500-bed) Kingston General Hospital. The Vic's bulletin boards blazed with signs reading: "This is Dictatorship." Forty patients had been admitted "illegally" after the deadline.

Huffed Brigadier Norman Skentlebery, chairman of the Vic's house committee: "We will fight it to the end." Welsh-born Dr. Thomas Morgan, head of the medical board, defied his countryman, Health Minister Aneurin Bevan: "We intend to ignore the order and admit new patients. We are willing to go to prison rather than give in to dictatorial instructions."

Help on the Way. From all over England came 700 letters supporting the rebellion at the Vic. A local chemist promised -L-25 worth of medical goods if the N.H.S. cut off supplies. One firm offered to sterilize the hospital's utensils free. The British Medical Association lined up its 20,000 members behind the Vic's doctors in demanding, at least, a full public inquiry. The regional hospital board, rumbled the B.M.A., "appears to be flouting public opinion in the district."

Last week public opinion packed Kingston's Coronation Hall with indignant citizens. The hall seats 1,200, but somehow 1,500 squeezed in. With great restraint, Dr. Morgan and Surgeon Laurance Able limited themselves to reiterating the demand for a full inquiry. Next day, canvassers set out from door to door, getting signatures on a petition to be presented to the House of Commons.

G.P.s Out? The Vic's medical staff was not fighting Britain's socialized medicine: all 26 staff doctors had joined the plan.

What they were upset about was the threat to tried & true patient-doctor and doctor-specialist relations.

Explained Dr. Morgan: "This is another move to keep general practitioners out of hospitals. Here, a G.P. can bring his patient into the hospital and treat him or her himself. When he calls in a specialist, he has the advantage of personal contact with that specialist to keep his medical knowledge up to date and follow through on his patient . . . [At] a big general hospital he loses touch with his patient and . . . the specialist. If G.P.s are kept out of hospitals, [their] standards . . . will inevitably fall."

Two aims of the N.H.S. had collided head on at Kingston's Victoria Hospital. One was to use all facilities in the best way "to meet the overall needs of the community." The other: "Local loyalty . . . must not be ignored even [for] greater medical efficiency." Chortled Brigadier Skentlebery over tea at the United Service Club: "We've got them on the spot there, all right."

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