Are patients really consumers?

The British National Health Service (NHS) has experienced various phases of reform and reorganisation during the last 15 years. During this time it has been suggested that the role of the patient is analogous to that of the consumer. Meanwhile there has been increasing application of the techniques of health economics. This paper examines the rationale for these developments, placing them in wide historial context, and arguing that far from being a passive consumer of pre‐packed healthcare, patients ought to be considered as partners in a continuing process of inquiry, in accordance with John Dewey’s philosophy of instrumentalism. As a result it is argued that the present commodification of healthcare in the UK should be halted, in order to preserve and build on the achievements of the NHS.