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1425 Subcommittee to decide as to what are reasonable grounds for demanding such transfer, and whether these are to be found in the fact that the patients did not originally select the medical man from whose list they desire to be removed, but were passed on to him by his partner. , York Insitrance Committee. At a recent meeting of the York Insurance Committee a member referred to a number of complaints which, he stated, had reached him of medical men on the panel giving preference to uninsured patients who consulted them, and keeping insured patients waiting by so doing He stated that it was becoming customary to ask a patient whether he was insured or not, and that a great deal of irritation was being caused by " classifying patients on the sheep and goats principle." No action was taken in the matter by the Committee, but the member who brought it forward referred to the fact that whether he was supported or not, those who complained would be aware that he had made their grievance public, and no doubt his having done so will have its effect if there should in fact be any substantial foundation for the allegation made. London Panel Practitioners and War Service. At recent meetings of the London Insurance Committee the following matters connected with the provision of medical men for war service from the London panel came up for consideration and were dealt with. Upon the question of change of medical attendant by the patient at the end of 1915, the report of the Medical Benefit Subcommittee was accepted, which stated that the Subcommittee had authorised the issue of a public announcement drawing the attention of insured persons to the regulations issued by the Commissioners, and instructing them as to the steps to be taken in the event of their desiring to change their doctor or the method of obtaining treatment as from Jan. lst, 1916. These regulations provided that an insured person whose medical attendant on the panel was holding a commission in the naval or military forces during November, 1915, should not be entitled to choose a new practitioner at the end of the year unless in addition to giving notice to the Insurance Committee he should satisfy the Medical Service Subcommittee as to his having reasonable grounds for desiring to be removed from the list of his medical attendant for 1915. A report of the Medical Benefit Sub- committee laid before the Insurance Committee at another meeting stated with regard to the possibility of obtaining from among panel practitioners an increased supply of medical officers for the forces, that by careful cooperation and organisation it might be possible to release a still greater number to serve. This, however, would not apply in the case of every district, for it was the opinion of the Sub- committee that the number of medical men in practice in some areas was inadequate even in normal times of peace, and that any further reduction of their numbers might bring about a serious situation. The Subcommittee had invited the close attention of the Commissioners to the areas in the county of London to which this would apply. The London Panel Committee Gazette gives the number of panel prac- titioners now serving in the forces as nearly 200, and 750 as the number of those who have intimated their willingness to attend the panel patients of their absent colleagues under the Committee’s war emergency scheme. Complaints against Practitioners in London. A summary of cases reported to the London Insurance Committee by the Medical Service Subcommittee has been prepared by the London Panel Committee which shows inter alia that a total of 286 cases have been reported upon from the inception of medical benefit on Jan. 12th, 1913, to Oct. 31st, 1915. Of these 144 were found not to be sub- stantiated, as against 142 substantiated. The greater number of the complaints alleged neglect in treatment, 91 being substantiated out of 195. A charge for treatment was found to have been made in 11 instances out of 14 alleged, this being naturally a class of case which was not likely to be contested. Alleged carelessness in issuing certificates was proved in 14 cases out of 25. The London panel is certainly to be congratulated upon the smallness of these numbers in the first years of the working of such an Act, by so large a number of medical men in the huge population of the metropolis. KING EDWARD’S HOSPITAL FUND FOR LONDON. A MEETING of the Governors and General Council of King Edward’s Hospital Fund for London, for the purpose of awarding grants to the hospitals, convalescent homes, and consumption sanatoriums for the present year, was held at St. James’s Palace on Dec. 16th, the SPEAKER of the House of Commons being in the chair. Lord REVELSTOKE (the honorary treasurer) reported that the amount received for general purposes by the Fund to Dec. llth, after payment of expenses, was £124,575, and that the income from investments for 1915 exceeded that for 1914 by about .614.000. Sir WILLIAM COLLINS said the League of Mercy had again contributed f.14,000 to the Fund, as in 1913 and 1914, thus making a total of f.230,000 contributed by the League since its foundation in 1899 to the Fund. Sir WILLIAM CHURCH (the chairman of the Distribution Committee) presented the report of the committee, which stated that the Governors and General Council had this year fixed the sum available for distribution amongst the London hospitals at .6133,500, being the same amount as in 1914. The Distribution Committee had continued to encourage the hospitals in the policy of deferring all schemes of capital expenditure that are not of exceptional urgency. In a few cases grants had been recommended in support of schemes of this character sanc- tioned during the year, while further assistance from the Fund had in some instances been required in aid of schemes which were already in hand before the outbreak of war. The total amount of the grants towards buildings and improve- ments was £15,975, as against £12,350 last year. The total amount allotted to maintenance was correspondingly reduced from f.121,150 to f.117 525, but it still exceeded the total given for maintenance in 1913. The number of hospitals applying for grants was 104. The honorary secretary, Mr. FREDERICK M. FRY, having presented the list of awards, Dr. EDWIN FRESHFIELD sub- mitted the report of the Convalescent Homes Committee, which stated that this year the committee had been able to reserve a large number of beds at consumption sanatoriums for the use of patients in London hospitals. Grants to con- sumption sanatoriums amounted to f.4560, and to convalescent homes .66500. The SPEAKER of the House of Commons, in moving the adoption of the report and awards, read a letter which His Majesty had addressed to the Presiding Governor, through Lord Stamfordham. The letter stated that His Majesty is interested to see that the total amount distributed by the Fund since its foundation, 19 years ago, now exceeds £2,000,000-a convincing proof of the success of the scheme inaugurated by His late Majesty King Edward. His Majesty trusts that the Fund will continue to receive the generous support of the public and will thus be enabled effectively to assist the hospitals of London in carrying on their beneficent work during these times of difficulty. The SPEAKER, in moving the adoption of the report and awards, said that the present distribution was in a sense a land-mark in the history of the Fund, owing to the fact that since its foundation a little over f.2,000,000 had been distri- buted, the exact total, in 19 years, being R2,070,416 8s. 5d. The first million was reached in 1909, when the Fund had been in existence 13 years. The reports and awards were adopted unanimously. Sir SAVILE CROSSLEY announced that Sir Ernest Cassel proposed to give again, as in 1911, f.50,000 to hospitals, this time in the form of 4i per cent. War Loan Stock. Of this .628,000 would be given to the Fund to be distributed amongst the hospitals, convalescent homes, and consumptive sanatoria receiving grants from the Fund this year, in amounts equal to one-fifth of the grants made by the Fund. The remaining £22,000 have been allocated as follows:- Metropolitan Hospitals : London, .6800; King’s College, .6500 ; Guys, .61000 ; St. Mary’s, £300 ; Royal National Orthopaedic, £600 ; West London, £600 ; "Dreadnought," 6700; Hampstead General, £100 ; London Lock, £100 ; Charing Cross, £750 ; City of London Hospital for Diseases of the Chest, .6200 ; Great Northern Central, £400 ; Hospital for Consumption (Brompton), .6250; Middlesex,
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