"Comprehensive, free health care for everyone, funded by all taxpayers, was the founding principle of the NHS. It became the model for public services across the world." "But this vision is being destroyed. The NHS is being broken up and dismantled. Important services are no longer provided by the NHS, and what is left is increasingly being subjected to part or full privatisation. Control and ownership of health care is moving from public bodies to private companies whose profits are made at the expense of staff and patients." "The speed and direction of the change is concealed by the rhetoric of 'modernisation', 'choice', 'diversity' and 'local ownership', and by the complexity of privatisation mechanisms such as PFI, PPPs, LIFT and foundation hospital trusts. Allyson Pollock demystifies these terms and the process of privatisation, providing an analysis of New Labour's 'mixed economy of health care'. Her conclusion is clear: a system which was designed to promote equity and universality is being replaced by a multitude of fragmented and competing providers driven by financial incentives rather than the health needs of the population."--BOOK JACKET