UK's NHS model "should be abandoned"

The UK's National Health Service, which provides most health care services free at the point of delivery and includes a flat-rate charge for prescription drugs, should be replaced by a more consumer-orientated co-payer system, according to the UK's oldest free-market think-tank, the London-based Institute of Economic Affairs.

A study published by the IEA, titled Pharmaceuticals and Government Policy, argues that consumers should take more responsibility in the fields of health care and drugs. Tony Hockley, who authored the report, found that, in many areas of UK health care, producers rather than consumers dictate the allocation of resources. Mr Hockley said: "health care systems worldwide are facing important challenges, as their users change from being passive recipients of services determined by third parties to active and interested consumers."

According to the IEA, the UK's NHS has resulted in British innovations in, for example, hip replacements, new forms of leg ulcer treatments and palliative care being applied across the globe but often denied to British patients.