United Kingdom

Responsibility for national defense rests with the prime minister and the cabinet. The secretary of state for defense formulates defense policy. His ministry has responsibility for the armed forces. The secretary of state is advised by the chief of the defense staff, aided by the chiefs of the three services—the army, navy, and air force. Britain has been an active member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), deploying its troops in various theatres of conflict. Internal security and intelligence are handled by the MI5 government agency, and foreign intelligence services are carried out by MI6.

Health and welfare

The National Health Service

The National Health Service (NHS) provides comprehensive health care throughout the United Kingdom. The NHS provides medical care through a tripartite structure of primary care, hospitals, and community health care. The main element in primary care is the system of general practitioners (family doctors), who provide preventive and curative care and who refer patients to hospital and specialist services. All consultations with a general practitioner under the NHS are free.

The other major types of primary medical care are dentistry and pharmaceutical and opthalmic services. These are the only services of the NHS for which charges are levied, though persons under age 16, past retirement, or with low incomes are usually exempt. Everyone else must pay charges that are below the full cost of the services involved.

Under the Department of Health in England are four regional health directors who oversee area health authorities, whose major responsibility is to run the hospital service. (Overseeing the health authorities in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland is the responsibility of their respective parliament or assembly.) Hospitals absorb more than two-thirds of the NHS budget. All hospital treatment under the NHS is free, including consultations with doctors, nursing, drugs, and intensive care, whatever the type of medical problem and however long the hospital stay. Hospital doctors are paid a salary rather than a fee for service but can combine salaried work for the NHS with a private practice.

The Community Health Service has three functions: to provide preventive health services; to act as a liaison with local government, especially over matters of public health; and to cooperate with local government personal social service departments to enable health and personal care to be handled together whenever possible.

Individuals can register with any NHS general practitioner in their area who is prepared to add them to his or her list of patients. Anyone who wishes to change to another doctor may do so. Except in emergencies, patients are referred to a hospital by their general practitioner, allowing patients an element of choice.

Apart from the charges mentioned above, treatment under the NHS is free to the patient. The service is almost entirely funded by government revenues, with less than 5 percent of NHS revenue coming from charges. This arrangement is unique among industrialized countries. There is no substantial reliance on private medical insurance (as, for example, in the United States).

The NHS budget, like that for any other government service, is determined by negotiations between the Treasury and the spending departments, as modified by subsequent discussion in the cabinet. The resulting figure is a budget for the NHS as a whole. The division of money throughout the United Kingdom is partly constrained by a formula designed to improve the geographic distribution of medical resources. Each regional authority divides its total funds among the area health authorities.

Alongside the NHS is a system of private medical care both for primary care and for hospital treatment. Although it grew somewhat in the 1980s and ’90s, the sector absorbs only about one-tenth of the total expenditure on doctors and hospital inpatient care. Most private care is financed by voluntary private medical insurance.