Mutualism and health care, newly available in paperback, presents the first comprehensive account of a major innovation in hospital funding before the NHS. The voluntary hospitals, which provided the bulk of Britain's acute hospital services, diversified their financial base by establishing hospital contributory schemes. Through these, working people subscribed small, regular amounts to their local hospitals, in return for which they were eligible for free hospital care. The book evaluates the extent to which the schemes were successful in achieving comprehensive coverage of the population, funding hospital services, and broadening opportunities for participation in the governance of health care and for the expression of consumer views. It then explores why the option of funding the post-war NHS through mass contribution was rejected, and traces the transformation of the surviving schemes into health cash plans. This is a substantial investigation into the attractions and limitations of mutualism in health care. It is highly relevant to debates about organisational innovations in the delivery of welfare services.

"Drawing on a comparative study of hospital records, Charity and the London Hospitals investigates how and why Victorians contributed in order to show that benevolence was rarely amenable to a single form or reason. Whilst charity remained central to the hospitals' raison d'etre, philanthropy's contribution was modified at a financial and administrative level as hospitals shifted from being philanthropic to medical institutions. Why this process occurred and the impact of professionalisation and scientific medicine are assessed."--BOOK JACKET.

Vol. 14-41 have separately paged nursing section.