The State of Medicine: Keeping the promise of the NHS

The NHS is the closest thing the UK has to a national religion. No wonder: it unites people across social and class divides. But it is also under pressure, underfunded, and unravelling at the seams. When the NHS was founded, children died of whooping cough and tuberculosis, and the average person lived less than 50 years. Now childhood deaths are rare and we expect to live almost twice as long. Many of us swallow dozens of daily medications, and the NHS promises to keep treating us, rich or...