Inverse care law
Encyclopedia
The Inverse care law is the principle that the availability of good medical or social care tends to vary inversely with the need of the population served.
Proposed by Julian Tudor Hart
in 1971, the term has since been widely adopted.
The law states that:
"The availability of good medical care tends to vary inversely with the need for it in the population served. This ... operates more completely where medical care is most exposed to market forces, and less so where such exposure is reduced." (Hart, 1971)
Inverse laws are commonplace, and arise because of inequality and a lack of social justice. In most areas of life (politics of envy aside) most of us are reasonably happy with this state of affairs; the fact that the rich have more clothes than they strictly 'need' is not too great a cause for concern. However, it is unsettling to many that an inverse law applies to health, offending a sense of fairness — a view which forms the basis for the existence of the National Health Service
in the United Kingdom
.
Proposed by Julian Tudor Hart
Julian Tudor Hart
Julian Tudor Hart is a British physician.- Biography :He studied medicine at Cambridge University and in London....
in 1971, the term has since been widely adopted.
The law states that:
"The availability of good medical care tends to vary inversely with the need for it in the population served. This ... operates more completely where medical care is most exposed to market forces, and less so where such exposure is reduced." (Hart, 1971)
Inverse laws are commonplace, and arise because of inequality and a lack of social justice. In most areas of life (politics of envy aside) most of us are reasonably happy with this state of affairs; the fact that the rich have more clothes than they strictly 'need' is not too great a cause for concern. However, it is unsettling to many that an inverse law applies to health, offending a sense of fairness — a view which forms the basis for the existence of the National Health Service
National Health Service
The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...
in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
See also
- Health policy
- Inverse benefit lawInverse benefit lawThe Inverse Benefit Law states that the ratio of benefits to harms among patients taking new drugs tends to vary inversely with how extensively a drug is marketed...
- Patient safetyPatient safetyPatient safety is a new healthcare discipline that emphasizes the reporting, analysis, and prevention of medical error that often leads to adverse healthcare events. The frequency and magnitude of avoidable adverse patient events was not well known until the 1990s, when multiple countries reported...
- Public healthPublic healthPublic health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals" . It is concerned with threats to health based on population health...