Keir Starmer promises more ‘democratic control’ of the NHS – how do other European countries do it?

By Nick Fahy, Director of the Health and Care Research Group, RAND Europe
Hampton Toole, Analyst, Healthcare, RAND Europe
Tom Ling, Senior Research Leader and Head of Evaluation, RAND Europe

Sir Keir Starmer, the UK prime minister, announced on March 13 that the government will move to abolish NHS England in the next two years. During this period, the government plans to bring its functions under the UK’s health ministry, with the aim of bringing the health service “into democratic control”. What does this mean, and what difference will it make?

When the NHS was established in 1948, part of the aim was to make the local health problems of patients across the country the concern of the national…

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