Published 1 July 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a628
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a628

Feature

NHS Anniversary

The NHS debate

¹ London

Is the NHS a clapped out behemoth or the best gift the British people have ever given themselves? Rebecca Coombes reports on last week’s debate hosted by the BMJ and the King’s Fund

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

As Ara Darzi was preparing to deliver his final report into the future of the NHS, four experts from the worlds of business, journalism, clinical services, and Whitehall gathered to discuss whether it should have a future at all. The motion of the debate was that "The founding principles of the NHS—services funded by taxation and available to all regardless of ability to pay—are no longer relevant in 21st century Britain."

The motion was supported by entrepreneur and businessman Luke Johnson and Karol Sikora, cancer specialist and champion of privately funded medical schools in the UK. Opposing were Polly Toynbee, from the UK’s leading liberal broadsheet newspaper the Guardian, and Paul Corrigan, special adviser to two successive health secretaries at the Department of Health.

A poll of the invited audience at the Royal Institution, London, taken before the debate showed that just under a quarter (24%) supported the motion, 71% . . . [Full text of this article]

An outdated model

An efficient service

Failing an ageing population

Choice and competition

US dream

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