The National Health Service of the UK is a totemic institution, much loved by the British public, and which has faced one of its greatest challenges during the COVID pandemic and Brexit. But it faces wider challenges as well. Can it keep up with constant innovation and rising expectations?

In this seminar, we will look at how the NHS came into being and how it compares with other models of health system. We will consider the challenges the NHS faces, and what policymakers can do to address them. And we will look towards the future to ask – will we still have an NHS in another fifty years?