The Varsity Medical Debate, between Oxford and Cambridge Universities, brings together practitioners and the public, professors, pupils and members of the polis, to facilitate discussion about ethics and policy within healthcare. The motion on privatizing the National Health Service (NHS) was specifically chosen to reflect the growing sentiment in the UK where further discourse upon models of h...

Recent disclosures of failures of care in the National Health Service (NHS) in England have led to debates about compassion deficits disallowing health professionals to provide high quality responsive care. While the link between high quality care and compassion is often taken for granted, it is less obvious how compassion – often originating in the individual’s emotional response – can become ...

The National Health Service in England considers on the Government's plans to improve quality of health care Commenting on another of its consultation papers, one notary recently gave the British Government " for presentation, minus for deliverability ". 1 Early indications are that the Government's consultation paper on quality in the English National Health Service (NHS) 2 could edge up to a ...

This is a commentary on Gilbert and colleagues’ (1) paper on morality and markets in the National Health Service (NHS). Morality and values are not ephemeral qualities and universal healthcare is not simply an aspiration; it has to be enshrined in law. The creation of the UK NHS in 1948 was underpinned by core legal duties which required a system of public funding and delivery to follow. The mo...

That 'enterprise' which brings the benefits of medical science to the British, the National Health Service (NHS), is undergoing a managerial reorganisation. The overall objectives of the 'health service industry' are stated in the white paper. Good management requires that there is something in it for those who own the 'factory' and something for the 'workers'. The owners also happen to be the ...

The death of the English National Health Service (NHS) has been pronounced many times over the years, but the time and cause of death and the murder weapon remains to be fully established. This article reviews some of these claims, and asks for clearer criteria and evidence to be presented.

The arrival of the British National Health Service (NHS) in 1948 heralded significant changes for all health workers, but the establishment of a 'free' health service was especially meaningful for the hospital almoners-or medical social workers, as they were starting to be known-who had previously been responsible for the assessment and collection of patient payments. It was on this basis they ...