The NHS is sick, but is it terminal?

As its 60th birthday approaches, the target culture is in danger of strangling the NHS On life support: staff say they still love their jobs, but are increasingly taken away from caring for patients by the need to fill in endless forms "You can't possibly tell them what it's really like," says Ruby sternly. The other doctors nod in agreement. "How can you possibly convey what it's like to work in the NHS, to have the idealism that has underpinned years of studying slowly crushed? How can you get that across?" She resumes her demolition of a packet of custard creams. The sound of a screaming child drifts down the corridor and somebody's pager goes off. Next month, the NHS is 60 years old. One of the greatest public health exercises in history is creaking towards retirement age. Much is written about the NHS: its failings, its... [read full story]