Rationing and Rationality in the National Health Service The Persistence of Waiting Lists

This book questions the necessity for waiting lists for elective surgery. Waiting lists are instead considered as an expression of the irrationality of a system which tolerates an excessive restriction of access to some of the few treatments which are both highly effective and relatively cheap. The waiting list issue is therefore considered in the wider historical and political context. The book considers the path through the health system that those seeking treatment must negotiate, and so highlights the ways in which a variety of seemingly unrelated minor issues combine to subvert the nominal aim of the health service.