With a general election imminent, the NHS has once again emerged as a priority among voters in England, and political parties are competing to be seen as the best qualified to improve the service. Opposition parties paint a picture of an NHS with major deficiencies while the Labour government believes that the NHS is ‘good’ but needs further transformation to become ‘great’. These calls for further reform follow an unprecedented increase in funding for the NHS since 2000.
This review assesses how far the investment and accompanying reforms since 1997 have transformed the NHS in England into a high-performing health system. The review focuses on England because health policy has now diverged from that in the devolved administrations of Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. It has drawn on official data, government and other official reports and academic research to assess how much progress the NHS has made in eight domains since 1997. The review asks whether the NHS is: accessible; safe; promoting health and managing long-term conditions; clinically effective; delivering a positive patient experience; equitable; efficient and accountable.
Alcohol pp. 37-40
Overall, there is no sign that the government’s aims to reduce harmful alcohol consumption have been achieved. However, as the government has recently acknowledged, much of the potential improvement lies outside the NHS, including greater control of advertising, pricing strategies, and initiatives to limit the physical availability of alcohol.
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