Plot Against the NHS, The

Colin Leys, Stewart Player

Revealing the British coalition government’s plans, this examination demonstrates how a small “policy community” inside and outside the department of health have schemed for 10 years to replace the National Health Service (NHS) with a U.S.-style health care market without informing parliament or the public. While ex-ministers, officials, and the like profit from lucrative positions in private health companies, the population must cope with the increasing health care costs and the diminishing quality of care. With accounts from NHS patients and doctors, the key strategies of implementation are uncovered and the companies involved—their lobby, their businesses, their fortunes, and, in some cases, their crimes—exposed.

About the Authors

Colin Leys is an emeritus professor at Queen’s University Canada and an honorary professor at Goldsmiths College London. His most recent books are The Rise and Fall of Development Theory, Market-Driven Politics, and Total Capitalism. He has been studying and writing about the NHS since the late 1990s.

Stewart Player is a public policy analyst with extensive experience of studying the NHS. He is the co-author with Colin Leys of Confuse and Conceal: The NHS and Independent Treatment Centres, and author or co-author of numerous articles on the NHS.