In Defense of the National Health Service

Abstract

Many influential British groups have taken the opportunity provided by the Royal Commission on the National Health Service to put forward proposals which would fundamentally damage that service. In this paper we discuss the implications of some of these proposals, and explain why we defend the NHS as the basis of an equitable method of providing health care.

We consider the various methods which have been suggested to increase the revenue of the NHS. We compare the experiences of several Western countries, and show that the method of financing inevitably affects the pattern of medical care and the indices of health and illness. We examine the underlying motives of many critics of the NHS, and document the development of private medicine in the United Kingdom. We continue by discussing ways in which less money could be spent on health care without detriment to the patient. As an example, we look at several surgical procedures in detail and demonstrate the costs of uncertainty in surgical practice. Finally, we consider the continuing power of the medical profession, how it is maintained, and its implications.

We conclude by summarizing why we support the NHS despite its imperfections, and why attempts to undermine it should be resisted.