Royal college calls for national priorities setting

The Royal College of Physicians is calling for a national council to help determine priorities in the health service (see also p761). In launching the college's report, Setting Priorities in the NHS: A Framework for Decision Making, the president, Sir Leslie Turnberg, emphasised that choices had to be made within the NHS since not everything that was possible was affordable. The report argues that equity for the whole population is more important than freedom of individual choice but says that the criteria for setting priorities must be open. Sir Leslie said that there was confusion about who was taking decisions on …