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Centre for Policy on Ageing | |
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| Who cares about equity in the NHS? | | Author(s) | Margaret Whitehead |
| Journal title | British Medical Journal, vol 308, 14 May 1994 |
| Pages | pp 1284-7 |
| Keywords | National Health Service ; Coordination ; Management [care] ; Social ethics. |
| Annotation | The concept of equity in relation to the National Health Service (NHS) in Britain encompasses not one but at least eight principles: universal entitlement; sharing financial costs; free at the point of use; comprehensive in range; equality of geographical access; same high standard of care for all; selection on basis of need; and encouragement of a non-exploitative ethos. Until the 1980s, the NHS had a good record of incorporating these principles into practice. Throughout the 1980s, however, there has been a pronounced change, with the gradual introduction of business values into the service, culminating in the market based reforms of the 1990s. Several recent policies seem to be taking the NHS away from the goal of an equitable system, for example, arrangements for community care and the incentives within contracting to select patients on financial grounds. To restore equity as a value demands priority for ethical values, monitoring of policies for their effects on equity, some national planning, and a new debate about the entitlement to services such as continuing care. (RH). |
| Accession Number | CPA-990324202 A |
| Classmark | L4: QAJ: QA: TQ * |
Data © Centre for Policy on Ageing |
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| ...from the Ageinfo database published by Centre for Policy on Ageing. |
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