• HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
Saturday, August 2, 2025
BIOENGINEER.ORG
No Result
View All Result
  • Login
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
  • HOME
  • NEWS
  • EXPLORE
    • CAREER
      • Companies
      • Jobs
        • Lecturer
        • PhD Studentship
        • Postdoc
        • Research Assistant
    • EVENTS
    • iGEM
      • News
      • Team
    • PHOTOS
    • VIDEO
    • WIKI
  • BLOG
  • COMMUNITY
    • FACEBOOK
    • INSTAGRAM
    • TWITTER
No Result
View All Result
Bioengineer.org
No Result
View All Result
Home NEWS Science News Health

COVID-19 could spell the end of an egalitarian National Health Service

Bioengineer by Bioengineer
April 27, 2020
in Health
Reading Time: 2 mins read
0
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterShare on LinkedinShare on RedditShare on Telegram

A return to the principles of equality and universality of care that informed the NHS 70 years ago could be impossible

IMAGE

Credit: Dr Sabrina Germain

Dr Sabrina Germain, a Senior Lecturer in The City Law School, says the COVID-19 pandemic could signal the end of the National Health Service based on the liberal egalitarian conception of distributive justice.

In her paper, “Will COVID-19 Mark the End of an Egalitarian National Health Service?”, published in the European Journal of Risk Regulation, Dr Germain considers, first of all, why the allocation of healthcare resources is fundamentally a question of justice in Britain and explains why healthcare law and policy require a philosophical approach in times of crucial change and crisis. Secondly, the paper provides a critical analysis of the current situation for the allocation of healthcare resources and the provision of services to patients directly or indirectly affected by the virus.

The paper concludes that the liberal egalitarian conception of distributive justice at the heart of the NHS, aiming to guarantee free and equal access to healthcare, is now in jeopardy and is being replaced by a utilitarian approach based on a priority ranking of patients for the provision of services at this critical time.

Dr Germain argues that long before the advent of the COVID-19 pandemic, the resources available and mobilised for healthcare delivery in the UK have not matched the growing needs of society.

Dr Germain’s research has put a spotlight on the difficulties faced by governments such as the UK, in allocating scarce resources and services funded by taxpayers:

“Even though the NHS remains publicly funded, the provision of services is now ranking the needs of patients that are directly or indirectly affected by the virus rather than providing equal access to treatment for all. Going back to the egalitarian model that was already under strain prior to the advent of COVID-19 will be practicably impossible, even if current utilitarian emergency policies are suspended. The NHS will nonetheless need to first address the delays in treatment that occurred during the time of the pandemic. Second, the public health strategy will have to be reassessed to prepare for a potential future incident of a similar scale and to learn the lessons from the current episode.”

Dr Germain’s research interests lie in the connections between healthcare law and public policy and most particularly in questions of justice in the allocation of healthcare resources.

Her award nominated monograph “Justice and Profit in Health Care Law” (Hart, 2019) is a comparative study that puts forward the influence of justice principles and for-profit actors (the medical profession, employers and insurers) on the development of laws to allocate healthcare resources in western welfare states.

At City, she convenes the medical law and bioethics module and teaches tort law. In 2019, Oxford University Press awarded her the Law Teacher of the Year Prize.

###

Media Contact
John Stevenson
[email protected]

Related Journal Article

http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/err.2020.33

Tags: Health Care Systems/ServicesImmunology/Allergies/AsthmaMedical/Scientific EthicsPolicy/EthicsPoverty/WealthPublic HealthScience/Health and the LawScience/Health/LawSocial/Behavioral Science
Share12Tweet8Share2ShareShareShare2

Related Posts

Gut γδ T17 Cells Drive Brain Inflammation via STING

Gut γδ T17 Cells Drive Brain Inflammation via STING

August 2, 2025
blank

Agent-Based Framework for Assessing Environmental Exposures

August 2, 2025

MARCO Drives Myeloid Suppressor Cell Differentiation, Immunity

August 2, 2025

Personalized ML Wearable Enhances Impaired Arm Function

August 2, 2025
Please login to join discussion

POPULAR NEWS

  • Blind to the Burn

    Overlooked Dangers: Debunking Common Myths About Skin Cancer Risk in the U.S.

    60 shares
    Share 24 Tweet 15
  • Dr. Miriam Merad Honored with French Knighthood for Groundbreaking Contributions to Science and Medicine

    46 shares
    Share 18 Tweet 12
  • Study Reveals Beta-HPV Directly Causes Skin Cancer in Immunocompromised Individuals

    38 shares
    Share 15 Tweet 10
  • Neuropsychiatric Risks Linked to COVID-19 Revealed

    36 shares
    Share 14 Tweet 9

About

We bring you the latest biotechnology news from best research centers and universities around the world. Check our website.

Follow us

Recent News

Gut γδ T17 Cells Drive Brain Inflammation via STING

Agent-Based Framework for Assessing Environmental Exposures

MARCO Drives Myeloid Suppressor Cell Differentiation, Immunity

  • Contact Us

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.

Welcome Back!

Login to your account below

Forgotten Password?

Retrieve your password

Please enter your username or email address to reset your password.

Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • Homepages
    • Home Page 1
    • Home Page 2
  • News
  • National
  • Business
  • Health
  • Lifestyle
  • Science

Bioengineer.org © Copyright 2023 All Rights Reserved.