NHS policy-makers lack medical advice - The Guardian 21st May 2008

The problems of the NHS can be attributed to a lack of medically qualified civil servants in Whitehall, says historian Sally Sheard. And she fears that the next big public health emergency - such as an influenza pandemic - might expose a serious medical knowledge vacuum. Sheard, senior lecturer in the history of medicine at Liverpool University, concludes that reforms to be unveiled amid NHS 60th birthday celebrations in July may be seriously flawed, as they have been developed in the virtual absence of the medical mandarins - the vital bridge between policy-makers and the NHS.

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