Physician issues monetarism health warning
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.(First Edition)
BRITAIN needs to return to the values of the welfare state and pursue them with more determination, Sir Douglas Black, author of the 1980 Black report on poverty and health, said yesterday.
Sir Douglas, a former Government chief scientist and past president of the Royal College of Physicians, said the return of monetarism 'has again created evils that should have been relegated to history. We have homelessness and massive unemployment, potent causes of illness, and we have a health service which is being covertly denationalised . . . by the unnecessary creation of an artificial internal market.'
Writing in the British Medical Journal, Sir Douglas said that as a medical student he saw children going barefoot in Dundee.
After the Second World War, the welfare state improved matters considerably, he said, but Britain was now seeing a resurgence of evils that should be part of history while, in the United States, a mere eight years of Reaganomics had seen tuberculosis re-established as a health hazard on New York streets.
In Britain, Sir Douglas said, 'I am both sad and angry to see the attempted destruction of a system of health care which was as comprehensive as any in the world, and at a lower cost than any other comparable system'. If Britain was serious about reducing death and illness due to social deprivation, 'we must return to the values of the welfare state and pursue them with greater determination'.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments