ABSTRACT
Health care services provided by the National Health Service are free at the point of delivery, irrespective of the financial means of the users. The Government set up a Royal Commission, a high level group, to review the financing of long-term care and make recommendations about its future financing. This chapter describes key features of the structure of long-term care for older people in the United Kingdom (UK) and discusses some of the main challenges and debates. It provides a broad overview of the organisational structures, the challenges posed by the future demand for long-term care services, the mixed economy of provision and the mixed economy of financing. In the UK, informal care is the most important source of care for older people. The balance of care in the UK reflects the degree to which formal services are targeted on the most dependent people.
