ABSTRACT

This chapter begins the task of scene-setting with the broadest possible brush and contrast the Scottish and American health systems. Broadly speaking, the aim of the Scottish health system was to provide services for the entire population, and it was in fact used by almost all of that population. For most practical purposes there is no difference between the National Health Service (NHS) in Scotland and the NHS in England and Wales. Interestingly, there was one medical institution in the Scottish city that did promote itself somewhat in the American fashion. This was a hospital for the long-term care of severely retarded children. These institutions have been starved of public funds, and such promotion is one way of redeeming the balance. An assessment and nursery centre for handicapped children which opened at the end of the study also began to promote itself along the same lines.