For three decades following its creation in 1948, the National Health Service enjoyed a popularity unrivalled in British politics. It was called the envy of the world and ministers in successive governments vied to see who could do more to improve it. Now its survival can no longer be taken for granted. During the Seventies, the consensus which sustained it began to break down and it may weaken further in the years ahead. If it does fall apart, the public may lose its unfettered right to medical care: financial obstacles could become as common here as they are in America. Private hospitals and other forms of 'creeping capitalism' have already spread over the health map of Britain, and the right to free care within the state sector may end up being confined to the chronic sick and others who find it too difficult to bear the cost of private medicine.

LRB 4 August 1983 | PDF Download