- Provident dispensary
In the 19th and early 20th centuries a provident dispensary was a clinic offering medical care to people who made a small weekly payment as a kind of medical insurance. If and when they became ill they were entitled to treatment at the dispensary.
One of the earlier UK cities to have a provident dispensary was
Coventry (dispensary opened in 1830) where, in the 1840s, members subscribed one penny a week for adults and a halfpenny a week for each of their children. This was seen as a suitable arrangement for working-class people who wanted to be provident and self-reliant, avoiding charitable treatment offered to 'paupers', but with no hope of paying the fees charged to wealthier people. A provident dispensary needed a few hundred 'club' members to pay for one doctor. Some dispensaries had extra funding from philanthropists, and some arranged for hospital specialists to see dispensary patients at reduced fees. Doctors at a few provident dispensaries, inLondon for example, would visit patients at home.A provident dispensary was opened in
Buffalo, New York in the second half of the 19th century.In some places the same need might be met by friendly societies organised by the members themselves. Provident dispensaries, on the other hand, were usually set up by prosperous well-wishers and/or by a doctor, as
Sophia Jex-Blake did inEdinburgh , with support from a committee.Public or charitable dispensaries
Before provident dispensaries were thought of, there had been public dispensaries (charitable dispensaries) which gave advice and medicines free or for a small charge. In the 19th century it was not unusual in the UK to combine the subscription (provident) arrangement with charitable provision.
For examples of pre-20th century dispensaries for patients who could not pay a doctor's usual fee, please see:
*
Bruntsfield Hospital
*Children's Hospital of Philadelphia
*New Hospital for Women
*Royal Public Dispensary of Edinburgh
*Sydney Hospital References
*"Chambers' Information for the People" (1842)
*John Weale, "The Pictorial Handbook of London" (1854)
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