Ethics in the marketplace

Have the 1990 NHS and community care reforms totally divorced the national health service from its founding principles? Is commercialism compatible with public service? In the following extracts from a paper presented at the HVA 1993 annual professional conference Reg Pyne, in a presentation of his personal views, highlights short-comings in the organisation and delivery of both health and social care since the reforms were introduced. He calls on nurses and their managers to stand by their professional principles to defend standards and equity in NHS services.