Product Description

The 60th anniversary of Britain's National Health Service finds it undergoing the most radical, rapid and continuous programme of reorganisation and `reform' in its history. While most services remain free at point of use, and the NHS is still funded publicly, a growing share of the NHS budget is now being spent on buying services from a private sector that has grown rapidly in the last ten years.

Aneurin Bevan's bold stroke in 1948, of nationalising a collection of mostly tiny private, voluntary and municipal hospitals, swept away a failed market system, and created the most popular of all the public services. By contrast, New Labour reforms are reversing this historic modernisation, and spending more money to create a new, artificial `market' in health care which could never exist without government subsidy.

The NHS After 60 takes a fresh look at the origins and evolution of the NHS, with the greatest emphasis on the `reforms' which, in its sixth decade, have begun to transform it into a European-style social health insurance fund, for the purchase of services from a variety of private and public sector providers.

The NHS After 60 also examines the NHS in an international context, and discusses recent tendencies of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish governments to follow alternative lines of policy. The conclusion looks at the alternatives for the future development of the NHS. Will ministers roll the wheel of history further back towards a more radical market system, or move forward to a public service based on greater accountability and responsiveness to the needs and wishes of local people and those with greatest health needs?

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #274412 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-30
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 348 pages

Julian Tudor Hart
"John Lister has written a book which everyone interested or active in health care needs to read."

Tony Benn
"This is a very significant book, meticulously researched, and intensely readable."

From the Back Cover
Sixty years ago, in 1948, Aneurin Bevan's bold nationalisation of private, voluntary and municipal hospitals swept away a failed market system, and created the most popular of all the public services, the NHS. New Labour reforms are reversing this historic modernisation, and spending more money to create an artificial `market' in health care which could never exist without government subsidy.

In The NHS After 60, John Lister takes a fresh look at the origins and evolution of the NHS, emphasising the `reforms' which, in its sixth decade, have begun to transform the NHS into a European-style social health insurance fund, purchasing services from a variety of private- and public-sector providers.

Lister also examines the NHS in an international context and discusses recent tendencies of Scottish, Welsh and Northern Irish governments to follow alternative lines of policy. The conclusion looks at the alternatives for the future development of the NHS. Will ministers roll the wheel of history further back towards a more radical market system? Or will they move forward to a public service based on greater accountability and responsiveness to the needs and wishes of local people and those with greatest health needs?

Customer Reviews

A thorough appraisal
I was intrigued to find out what Lister could tell me that I didn't already know about the NHS. I found that this is someone who knows the whole story and doesn't pull any punches with his hard-hitting analysis. For anyone who wants to understand how the NHS has got to its current, endangered state, and wants to find out how things could be put back on track - this book provides an enormous amount of information and food for thought. Unlike some analyses, the supporting evidence is all there, and Lister never makes a statement without providing fascinating and often astounding cases to prove his point.