Reviewing recent healthcare policy in the NHS, this book firmly locates the NHS in the context of the welfare state. Setting health policy in both an historical and modern context (post-1997) Carrier and Kendall weigh up the successes and failures of the National Health Service in the United Kingdom and examine the conflicts which have driven the Health Service for over fifty years. After looking at recent responses to the apparent failure of healthcare in the United Kingdom, they conclude that the NHS has successfully met the challenges it faced when founded over sixty years ago and is likely to continue to meet the changing health needs of the population. This excellent book is appropriate for a wide range of undergraduate and postgraduate students studying health policy and the NHS.