Systematically updated throughout the fifth edition of this leading text provides the most up to date and comprehensive account available of health policy in the United Kingdom. It offers a clear and thorough introduction to the history of the NHS, its funding and priorities, and to the process of policy making. Written by a leading authority it provides a systematic assessment of changes under the Blair administration and includes two entirely new chapters on policy in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland after devolution and on key current issues and international comparisons.