Public should be told that rationing is inevitable, say doctors

doi:10.1136/bmj.39258.662083.DB

BMJ 2007;334:1343 (30 June), doi:10.1136/bmj.39258.662083.DB

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BMA annual representative meeting, Torquay, 25 June to 29 June

Public should be told that rationing is inevitable, say doctors

Zosia Kmietowicz

Torquay

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

The public should be warned that rationing of health care isinevitable, doctors said at their annual representatives' meetingin Torquay this week. The doctors also agreed that members ofthe public should be given explicit advice on which servicesare available on the NHS so that they can make provision fortreatments that fall outside the health service.

In its paper on an alternative strategy for the future of theNHS, published in May (BMJ 2007;334:969 doi: 10.1136/bmj.39210.522188.4E),the BMA raised the possibility that "it may be necessary toration some services if society is not prepared to pay highertaxes."

Alex Smallwood, from the BMA's Junior Doctors Committee, toldthe meeting, "Rationing has become a necessary evil. It is nolonger possible to provide all the latest treatments withoutdetriment to others. But we need to formalise it. We need away out that is fair . . . [Full text of this article]

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