God Bless the NHS Roger Taylor

Abstract

Faber & Faber, 2013 PB, 336pp, £9.99 978-0571303649 As a GP who defected to Canada, ‘God Bless the NHS’ are words I have never uttered; it is a sentiment felt deeply however by many patients, who have an enduring love affair with this most British of institutions. In his thoughtful book, Roger Taylor, co-founder of Dr Foster, provides a wide-ranging discourse on the NHS. Beginning with a discussion around the 290 recommendations from the Francis Report into mid-Staffs (enough to ‘make the man and woman in the Clapham GP’s waiting room despair’), he explores our relationship with the health service, arguing it is ‘part of our national story ... part of our national myth’; proposing the NHS is not an unusual healthcare system, but what is odd is our …