How the secretary of state for health proposes to abolish the NHS in England

9th March, 2011
British Medical Journal

Allyson Pollock and David Price examine the proposed statutory changes to the NHS and raise concerns that the government’s role could be reduced to that of payer.

The coalition government’s Health and Social Care Bill 2010-11 heralds the most controversial reform in the history of the NHS in England. The government plans to replace the NHS system of public funding and mainly public provision and public administration with a competitive market of corporate providers in which government finances but does not provide healthcare.