*shaking head*

[DanaC]

Good point.

I do think though this is one of those areas where greater centralisation brings benefits. The cost of medicine is brought down massively by centralisation because it increases the buying power of the customer. The NHS has huge buying power with drug companies - it helps drive down costs. Drug companies want the NHS to supply their products and many times they bring the cost down drastically to make that happen - because the NHS has such massive purchasing power.



I should add all this is subject to change given we have a coalition hell bent on finishing the job of privatising the NHS.