‘Free at the point of delivery’: A critical review of the extent to which this founding principle of the NHS has been undermined since the 1960s
An analysis of the Coalition Government’s proposals for reform to the NHS: A necessary step to recovery or the death knell of the NHS?
August 7, 2021GPs as accountants: A critical appraisal of the changing role of GPs through the development of the internal NHS market and primary health care trusts.
August 7, 2021‘Free at the point of delivery’: A critical review of the extent to which this founding principle of the NHS has been undermined since the 1960s
Example public health service dissertation topic 2:
‘Free at the point of delivery’: A critical review of the extent to which this founding principle of the NHS has been undermined since the 1960s
The founding ideology of the NHS was that service would be free at the point of delivery. However, this dissertation suggests that this was little more than illusory and was a slogan that, within fifteen years of the formation of the NHS, was no longer appropriate. The introduction of dental costs and prescription charges by consecutive Labour governments was therefore, this dissertation suggests, therefore, a betrayal of founding ideologies by the very political party that always seeks to portray itself as the ‘saviour of the NHS’,.
A range of primary source interviews with clients, practitioners and patients would supplement the secondary reading and theory that underpins this dissertation.
Suggested initial topic reading:
- Jackson, E. (2010) ‘Top-up payments for expensive cancer drugs: Rationing, fairness and the NHS’, Modern Law Review, Vol. 73(3), pp. 399-427.
- Klein, R. (2010) The new politics of the NHS: From creation to reinvention (6th edn). Abingdon: Radcliffe.
- Morrison, L. (2006) ‘We risk forgetting what it means to be free’, BMJ, 333(7581): 1277.
