Class Inequality and Health Care: The Origins and Impact of the National Health Service

Since its introduction in 1948 the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK has generally been regarded with veneration. There is a general belief that it has removed class inequalities in access to care and by implication, reduced inequalities in health. This book suggests that the formation of the NHS was a far less radical move – rather an attempt to rationalise an inefficient health care system and give it a stable financial base. The author emphasizes that the NHS does not in fact distribute care on the basis of care alone: class inequalities in mortality rates, for example, have not narrowed since the turn of the 20th century. The book, originally published in 1980, argues that the politics of health go deeper than administrators will readily admit, and that examination of the links between illness and the structure of class relations in Britain is essential if patterns of illness are to be adequately explained.