ABSTRACT
Introduction Inequality exists both among users and providers of health services. The patterns of inequality reflect those in wider society. A founding value of the NHS was equality of access to health care for all British citizens but, although widely accepted, proved one of the hardest to apply; indeed, inequalities appear to have widened rather than narrowed. We have also come to recognize differential access to health which has little to do with the NHS, and there is growing unease about the disadvantage experienced by certain groups with respect to employment.
