Where next for Britain’s broken National Health Service?
To save itself, the party that founded Britain’s health service must rescue it
Months after Labour won a landslide election in 1945, the party’s new health secretary predicted that its National Health Service (NHS) would be the “envy” of the world. Initially, Aneurin Bevan was right. Foreigners were in awe of the idea that a state could provide universal health care free at the point of use. Brazil, Italy and Malta all copied the system. At home, it became a national religion from the moment people first queued for free prescription glasses and false teeth.
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This article appeared in the Britain section of the print edition under the headline “From envy of the world to national embarrassment ”
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