Is there primary health care in the UK?

In the period since the Alma-Ata Declaration, there has been much activity in many countries in drawing up strategies for primary health care (PHC). This paper argues that the UK, though a signatory to the Declaration, has failed to provide an adequate framework for such a strategy, and that, in spite of the strong record of the National Health Service (NHS) as a system of social medicine, much remains to be done in order to achieve the principles of PHC. The paper analyses the record of the NHS in these areas, as set against the principles of PHC. It argues that such a review is important, not only for the NHS itself, but for some overseas students of the NHS who, through the strong links between the NHS and their own health services and the strong tradition of the NHS as a (nearly) free health system, might consider it a suitable blueprint for their own health services. THough there are a number of elements of the NHS, such as its resource allocation mechanism, that are relevant to PHC, it is argued that, as a whole, its structure may not be a suitable model.