| Abstrakt: |
A number of accounts making reference to the geographical distribution of doctors before the introduction of the National Health Service (NHS) rely on scraps of evidence that appear to become more problematic as they are traced back to source, as well as on assertion and anecdote. This article evaluates existing estimates of the geographical distribution of medical staff, and produces data to examine the distribution at local level across England and Wales in the 1930s. On the one hand, the analysis confirms the conventional wisdom that richer, southern areas tended to have more doctors than poorer, northern areas. However, at a local level, it can be shown that arguments emphasizing urban-rural differentials and the influence of medical schools, cannot be upheld. The contribution also emphasizes the fact that it is crucial to examine differences within, as well as between, regions. In short, use of more reliable disaggregated data here produces a more nuanced picture than a number of earlier accounts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
