Stories by Charles Webster

Features
- Patients’ friends pushed aside by Labour’s PALS
  
  The abolition of community health councils is completely at odds with Labour’s long history of support for them, says Charles Webster
- Can we have some more?
  
  New Labour promised to take swift, decisive action to improve school meals but has served up scraps, says Charles Webster
- Blair and Bevan: more than 50 years apart
  
  Labour’s white paper on the NHS emphasises collaboration over competition, but it is still closer to Thatcher than Bevan, says Charles Webster
- Ministers matter to the NHS
  
  Charles Webster wonders whether Frank Dobson will prove to be one of the better health ministers
- A case of ‘tragic incoordination’?
  
  Recent outbreaks of E.Coli offer an opportunity to examine the adequacy of our public health protection, says Charles Webster
- Public health in decline
  
  Has public health medicine really moved centre-stage in the wake of the NHS reforms? Charles Webster consults the historical record — and charts the slow decline of the public health function
Columns
- Look back in wonder
  
  New Labour will learn nothing about running health services if it ignores its socialist history, warns Charles Webster
- New Labour promises but old Tory policies
  
  Labour’s warm embrace of the Private Finance Initiative for the NHS stands in stark – and disturbing – contrast to the impression it had previously given to Labour voters, says Charles Webster
- Time to breach the contract
  
  GPs’ contracts have altered little since 1913, but the advent of PCGs may change all that, says Charles Webster
- Community care: older than the NHS
  
  Whatever today’s politicians seem to think, community care has been around a lot longer than they have, says Charles Webster
- The very long history of the PCG
  
  It’s taken a very long time to prise open the private world of family doctor administration, says Charles Webster
- A little of old Labour does good
  
  While recent cash injections confirm support for the NHS, Labour remains ambivalent on private health care, says Charles Webster
- Launching the new NHS – on a tight budget
  
  Preparing for the new health service in 1948 was an uphill struggle – and even organising the publicity met with opposition, explains Charles Webster
- Eugenic sterilisation: Europe’s shame
  
  Eugenic ideas were promoted across much of Europe during the 1920s and 1930s, with forcible sterilisation of the ‘unfit’ a constant demand of the eugenicists. Charles Webster reports on a troubled period in our history
- NHS: charging ahead with Labour?
  
  When governments want to show they are serious about controlling welfare spending, they flirt with new charges for health care. But Labour must remember its conscience on this issue, says Charles Webster
- Where is Labour’s vision for the NHS of 1997?
  
  In 1945, Labour’s modernising and egalitarian vision for a National Health Service helped to win the election. In 1997 the vision seems to have faded badly, says Charles Webster
- Why has it taken so long to achieve so little?
  
  The need for effective procedures for complaint has been present since the birth of the NHS. Charles Webster asks why the new system is weaker than one proposed over 20 years ago
- When will governments put public health first?
  
  The BSE crisis isn’t the first time that government has failed to act decisively to protect the health of its citizens, explains Charles Webster
- A spirit of healthy competition
  
  The fiftieth anniversary of Bevan’s widely welcomed NHS Bill is a good moment to reflect on the scale of his achievement, says Charles Webster
- Will New Labour restore old democracy?
  
  What will Labour do about the very obvious ‘democratic deficit’ in the NHS? Perhaps they should take a look at the historical record of local authorities in managing health services, says Charles Webster
- The battle for the health centre
  
  With all the talk of a primary care led NHS, it is easy to take the existence of the health centre for granted. But it was not always so, explains Charles Webster
- Goodbye to all that?
  
  In this brand new column, Charles Webster will look back at the important events of 50 years ago. What lessons should today’s policymakers learn from the past?