2011: was the year that...

摘要

Goodbye NHS On Jan 19, UK Health Secretary Andrew Lansley unveiled the Health and Social Care Bill. The legislation dictated a massive shake-up of the National Health Service (NHS), which included putting general practioners in charge of commissioning health services and allowing price competition between state and private health-care providers. Many health professionals felt reforms of the speed and scale outlined in the bill were unnecessary, damaging, and tantamount to privatisation of the NHS. The hugely unpopular bill united health-care professionals in England in protest, with many taki ng to the streets throughout the year. Minor changes were made to the draft legislation after a public "listening exercise" in June.