The BMJ ’s Commission on the Future of the NHS

The BMJ ’s NHS commission: an emphatic recommitment to the founding principles

“…Fundamental questions about the future of the NHS will be examined intensely in a year of a general election and a new government. The BMJ Commission on the Future of the NHS was established from the perspective that a high quality health service, free for all at the point of care, is too precious to be allowed to fail 13. Our aim was to identify the key challenges and priorities and make recommendations aimed at ensuring that the vision of the NHS is realised.…”

Tackling overmedicalisation: give people the opportunity to learn about self-care

“…The BMJ Commission on the Future of the NHS should make overmedicalisation a major theme for the reasons outlined in Mathew’s brief masterpiece 12. Obviously we do not want a return to the era in which people were refused tests and treatments because of their age, but, apart from geriatric medicine, the medical profession, with the best of intentions, has created an iatrogenic epidemic.…”

NHS v private practice: the perverse incentive

“…I am pleased to read in Abbasi’s Editor’s Choice that The BMJ is setting up its own commission on the future of the NHS 3. I urge all concerned to give priority to the above matter as a way of demonstrating “that the central premise of the NHS—a health service free at the point of care for all the population—is worth fighting for.”…”