Can we do better?

Abstract

In the introductory chapter, I claimed that rationing is a fact of life in the NHS, and that the rationing dilemma is worsening over time, primarily because what medicine can offer becomes vastly more sophisticated and in aggregate more expensive. What is implied in Nye Bevan's intent that every citizen should receive 'the best that medical skill can provide' is very different now from what it was in 1946 when the NHS Act was passed. And the going will be ever harder in the years ahead, since medical possibilities, offering genuine benefit for some, will continue to increase faster than national wealth.