Sharing resources: choices in health care

Across the world, health care continues to consume ever-increasing amounts of nations' wealth. Different societies are grappling with the problem of how to define and constrain the burgeoning demand on their resources. The DoH has stated that there should be no blanket ban on any service; some RHAs have sought a consensus among district health authorities and many district health authorities are setting out their own conclusions. If each purchaser is free to form a distinctive view on what constitutes need in their population, the range of available services, and balances within that range, may vary from place to place. Should society accept those variations? asks Adrian Bull.