Government plans inquiry that could mean end of NHS free at point of use
BMJ 2015; 351 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.h3971 (Published 21 July 2015) Cite this as: BMJ 2015;351:h3971All rapid responses
Rapid responses are electronic comments to the editor. They enable our users to debate issues raised in articles published on bmj.com. A rapid response is first posted online. If you need the URL (web address) of an individual response, simply click on the response headline and copy the URL from the browser window. A proportion of responses will, after editing, be published online and in the print journal as letters, which are indexed in PubMed. Rapid responses are not indexed in PubMed and they are not journal articles. The BMJ reserves the right to remove responses which are being wilfully misrepresented as published articles or when it is brought to our attention that a response spreads misinformation.
From March 2022, the word limit for rapid responses will be 600 words not including references and author details. We will no longer post responses that exceed this limit.
The word limit for letters selected from posted responses remains 300 words.
The end of an NHS "free at point of use" or " free at the point of need" has been long discussed.
The legal duty of the State to provide a National Health Service is explained in the act (1) establishing the NHS:
"The services so provided shall be free of charge, except where any provision of this Act expressly provides for the making and recovery of charges.”
The charges were not long in coming.
The 1951 Labour government forced through a proposal for prescription charges and fees for dental and optical care.
In protest, the "father" of the NHS Aneurin Bevan and, the future Prime Minister, Harold Wilson resigned from the cabinet.
James Callaghan told friends (2) that when Wilson and Bevan had threatened to resign "there was virtually no sympathy within the party" for the men.
The current prescription charge in England (£8.20) raises some £500 million per year.
1) National Health Service Act (1946); Section 1 (2).
2) Philip Ziegler, "Wilson: The Authorised Life of Lord Wilson of Rievaulx"
Competing interests: No competing interests
Re: Government plans inquiry that could mean end of NHS free at point of use
This confirms the hidden, secret agenda of the nasty party to privatise the NHS
The aim of the Conservative party, though vehemently denied by the party's propaganda and misinformation machine, has always been to implement the extremist capitalist agenda of privatising all services, and healthcare is no exception. The dismantling and dismemberment of the NHS is being carried by stealth and so insidiously and so subtly that the public will only realise the NHS no longer exists as we know it when it is too late to undo the changes now in motion.
We will return to the pre-1948 era when only the rich and the privileged could access healthcare, which is a basic and fundamental human right and which should be equitably accessible to all, irrespective of the ability to pay.
The cabinet, housed by multi-millionaires, cares the least for the welfare of the disadvantaged and the socially excluded.
We must all act now to save the NHS !
Competing interests: No competing interests