title: The ghost of health services past: comparing British health policy of the 1930s with the 1980s and 1990s.
abstract: It has recently been argued that British health policy of the 1990s has a number of similarities with that of the 1930s. In other words, recent years have seen a return to earlier policies, which has been termed "back to the future." The author critically examines these assertions under a number of themes: comprehensiveness, services free at the point of use, inequality, planning, coordination, adverse selection, and democracy. In many of these areas there is a good deal of similarity between the periods. Moreover, both periods appear to be inferior to the intervening period of the "classic" National Health Service. A different temporal pattern is observable in the area of democracy, where there appears to be a clear deterioration over time. However, in many ways, the ghost of health services past may return to haunt the future.
authors.affiliation: School of Social and Historical Studies, University of Portsmouth, Milldam, England.
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Powell
mesh_terms: D003266:Continuity of Patient Care; D003709:Democracy; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000639:trends*; D006285:Health Planning / Q000592:standards; D006291:Health Policy / Q000266:history / Q000639:trends*; D006302:Health Services Research; D049673:History, 20th Century; D006801:Humans; D011787:Quality of Health Care; D013222:State Medicine / Q000266:history / Q000639:trends*; D006113:United Kingdom