Put better than I possibly could,
Iona Heath was her usual perspicacious self in last weeks British Medical Journal:
“What is needed is a political context that maximises the amount of time that clinical professionals have available to spend in direct patient care; provides an environment within which trusting human relationships can develop and flourish; minimises perverse incentives; avoids the wholesale medicalisation of populations by situating preventative interventions at the level of the society rather than the individual; avoids duplication of effort and expenditure; is prepared to scrutinise the potential futility of interventions towards the end of life, especially in extreme old age; enables primary and secondary care professionals to pool their complementary expertise in the care of patients; and, overall, provides a better balance between the transactional and relational aspects of care. If any party is offering this, just let me know and my vote is yours”
A Better NHS 