Leading British doctor says free NHS is unsustainable

One of Britain's most senior doctors says that the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK is unsustainable and needs to be reformed.

Bernie Ribeiro, the new president of the Royal College of Surgeons, says that healthcare in the future should be paid for through a social insurance system.

Ribeiro says he believes that a health care system suited to the future, has to be invested in and cannot be done just out of taxation.

He suggests that a means-tested system where the poorest would pay nothing at all, and other patients could take out insurance to cover a proportion of their costs, would be more appropriate.

He says that as Britain is not a poor country and the working population is reasonably affluent, workers can afford to make an identifiable contribution towards health care and not one hidden in national insurance and taxation.

During the May election, the Labour party pledged to continue to provide free care for all through the NHS, which it created in 1948.

On the whole the British are very protective and proud of their health service which employs 1.3 million workers and spends over 76 billion pounds a year.

However according to an independent report in June 2005, the service is facing serious financial problems through poor management.

Doctors and patients have repeatedly complained of long waiting lists and over crowding on many hospital wards.