BACK in 1965, GPs in Blackburn reckoned the NHS had outlived its usefulness and called for it to be scrapped!
And, after complaining of being overworked and underpaid, they resigned en masse in a bid to force the issue.
Seventy doctors from the area, which included Accrington, Darwen, Clitheroe, and Great Harwood, resigned on the spot following a heated meeting – only one refused to quit.
Dr T J Burke, of Blackburn, president of the North Lancashire and Westmorland branch of the BMA, said: “We are contractors and can contract out of the health service if we wish, from within three months of April 1. We will run services until June 30 and if there is no settlement to our complete satisfaction in between, we can leave the service.”
He called for a new concept of the NHS and decent pay and conditions for GPs.
Others in the meeting said: “The concept of the poor needing a full service is out of date in the sixties” and “a free-for-all-comers service is today no good for the country.”
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