title: Political issues in emergency medicine: the United Kingdom.
abstract: A recent issue of this Journal published two papers on political issues facing the specialty of emergency medicine in the USA and in Canada. This paper continues the theme from a UK perspective. In recent years there has been significant change in the National Health Service, which has had (or will have) both direct and indirect consequences for the specialty of emergency medicine and the delivery of emergency care in the UK. This article describes some of the recent National Health Service initiatives and their implications for emergency medicine.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Department, Salisbury District Hospital, United Kingdom. cchdhb@yahoo.com
authors.forename: Geoffrey
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Hughes
mesh_terms: D026683:Advisory Committees; D000554:Ambulatory Care Facilities / Q000458:organization & administration; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D017408:Guidelines as Topic; D018166:Health Care Reform / Q000458:organization & administration*; D015277:Hotlines; D006801:Humans; D010559:Personnel Management / Q000592:standards; D011057:Politics; D011785:Quality Assurance, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D013222:State Medicine / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006113:United Kingdom