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A public dispensary, charitable dispensary or free dispensary gives advice and medicines free-of-charge, or for a small charge.
''Philadelphia Encyclopedia'' "Dispensaries" by Steven J. Peitzman
/ref> According to a historian of health services ''"During the nineteenth century access to healthcare was class based"''. Dispensaries were funded by voluntary subscriptions. Subscribers would "recommend" local people to be treated by the dispensary. In the main the medical practitioners engaged by dispensaries offered their services for free. One of the earlier English cities to have a provident dispensary was
A public dispensary, charitable dispensary or free dispensary gives advice and medicines free-of-charge, or for a small charge.
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.History
In England, from the later 18th Century onwards, there was a growth in Medical Philanthropy. This saw the establishment of voluntary hospitals offeringin-patient
A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health car ...
and dispensaries offering out-patient
A patient is any recipient of health care services that are performed by healthcare professionals. The patient is most often ill or injured and in need of treatment by a physician, nurse, optometrist, dentist, veterinarian, or other health car ...
treatment. By 1800 dispensaries dealt with at least 10,000 admissions per year.
There are competing claims to where the first dispensary was founded but it is clear that dispensaries began being established in numbers from 1770 onwards. The Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...
Dispensary for the Medical Relief of the Poor, founded in 1786, is considered to be the first public dispensary in the United States./ref> According to a historian of health services ''"During the nineteenth century access to healthcare was class based"''. Dispensaries were funded by voluntary subscriptions. Subscribers would "recommend" local people to be treated by the dispensary. In the main the medical practitioners engaged by dispensaries offered their services for free. One of the earlier English cities to have a provident dispensary was
Coventry
Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...
(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, in London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
for example, would visit patients at home.
A provident dispensary was opened in Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...
in the second half of the 19th century.
In some places the same need might be met by friendly societies
A friendly society (sometimes called a benefit society, mutual aid society, benevolent society, fraternal and service organisations, fraternal organization or Rotating savings and credit association, ROSCA) is a mutual association for the purpo ...
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
Sophia Louisa Jex-Blake (21 January 1840 – 7 January 1912) was an English physician, teacher and feminist. She led the campaign to secure women access to a University education when she and six other women, collectively known as the Edi ...
did in Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
, with support from a committee.
See also
* List of public dispensariesReferences
{{reflist Clinics Types of health care facilities