ABSTRACT
In the societies, the pluralist theory of democracy has emerged as the dominant explanation of the way in which political power is distributed and structured. As an aid to understanding the position of organised patients today, consumer representation through the Regional Hospital Boards and Hospital Management Committees which administered the largest part of the National Health Service (NHS) between 1948 and 1974, will be considered first. In the reorganised NHS, Community Health Councils (CHCs) have been given the remit of representing the patient and their experience and prospects will now be considered. A 'patients’ TUC', containing representatives of groups like the Patients’ Association, Age Concern, MIND and the National Association for the Welfare of Children in Hospital, as well as CHC members, would undoubtedly strengthen the voice of consumers at the national level. A major part of the job of a CHC is to act as a pressure group on behalf of health care consumers.
