ABSTRACT
The speed with which the idea caught on among large numbers of ordinary doctors at the particular time is probably a measure of their dissatisfaction with their situation both in the profession and in the National Health Service. Thus the medical manpower situation depended on the willingness of the country to provide more money for the National Health Service, and also on the outcome of doctors demands for increased remuneration. From the point of view of the medical profession the National Health Service represents a partnership between the profession and the state and in 1948 a Labour government, in order to get the service started, agreed to acquiesce in many of the doctors' demands. The doctors objected particularly to the new concept of 'a full commitment allowance' which would intentionally create a disparity between rates of remuneration arising from National Health Service work as between part-time and full-time consultants.
