Britain: An official handbook > 1956

BRITAIN: AN OFFICIAL HANDBOOK
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by the Public Health (Tuberculosis) Act (Northern Ireland), 1946, has eight
hospitals under its control.
Vaccination against smallpox is compulsory in Northern Ireland but otherwise
the range of preventive and domiciliary services is similar to that existing in Great
Britain.
THE MEDICAL, DENTAL AND ALLIED PROFESSIONS
Only persons whose names are on the medical register can practise as doctors
under the National Health Service. Apart from medical practitioners, only persons
whose names are on the dentists’ register can practise dentistry in Britain. The
minimum qualification for registration as a doctor requires five to seven years’
training in medical school and hospital, plus one year as an intern; for a dentist,
four or more years at a dental school are required.
The minimum period of hospital training required to qualify for State registra¬
tion as a general trained nurse is three years. Training is available also in sick
children’s, mental, and mental deficiency nursing. The enrolled assistant nurse
undergoes an essentially practical training for one year, followed by a year’s work
under supervision before enrolment.
Only registered pharmacists may describe themselves as such, and qualifications
requiring four to five years’ vocational training are necessary for registration.
For the professions of almoner, chiropodist, dietitian, medical laboratory techni¬
cian, occupational therapist, psychiatric social worker, physiotherapist, radiographer
and speech therapist a good general education is required followed by a professional
training. The length and nature of the training varies according to the profession.
VOLUNTARY AID FOR THE SICK AND HANDICAPPED
A number of voluntary organizations provide services of various kinds for sick
and handicapped persons in co-operation with, or supplementary to, the services
provided by central and local authorities. A number of convalescent homes, for
instance, of a type outside the scope of the hospital service, are administered by such
bodies. In many areas invalid children and others needing care in their own homes
are visited and helped by voluntary organizations. Special organizations also serve
the welfare of the blind, the deaf and other special groups. Though the need for
material aid from private sources becomes less as public provision extends, many
forms of help to meet individual needs that would not otherwise be met are
given by voluntary agencies. Their most valuable service is probably to provide
personal service and the continued personal interest that can contribute so much
to the welfare of the sick and infirm. These voluntary agencies usually depend
largely on the work, part-time or full-time, of unpaid volunteers.
EDUCATION
There are over seven million children and young people in full-time attendance
at schools or universities in the United Kingdom. Over 90 per cent of school
children attend publicly provided or aided schools. The universities are indepen¬
dent, self-governing institutions but they derive an increasing proportion (now
over two-thirds) of their funds from public sources. Many schools and colleges
continue to benefit from the endowments provided by benefactors in past centuries.
In England and Wales, the main development of publicly provided primary
education dates from 1870, and that of secondary education from the beginning of