ABSTRACT
At present, rationing policy in the UK National Health Service (NHS) is mostly implicit in that decisions about which treatments should be funded are decided without national or local debate. Many believe that a more explicit and open debate on rationing policy is inevitable. Presently, decisions about health care rationing are often inconsistent and judgements unclear. Consideration of the ethical principles that lie behind health care decision-making can help decision-makers realise which values underpin their decisions and where their judgements are inconsistent. This chapter summarises the arguments used in ethical theory and the implications of having certain philosophical frameworks in health care rationing.
