The NHS at 60: The Cost of Health - What Responsibilities Do Patients Have to the NHS?

BBC health correspondent Branwen Jeffreys presents a series of debates as the NHS marks its 60th anniversary. A panel of guests examines key dilemmas facing the NHS and analyses how the cost of health is balanced against quality of care and the values of the NHS. To what degree should patients be held responsible for conditions caused by their lifestyles? If someone continues to drink after they've been diagnosed and treated for cirrhosis of the liver, should doctors deny further treatment and spend the money on preventing others falling into the same situation? It's a grey and difficult area: heavy drinking can be a product of social factors and genetic predisposition, yet some specialists feel they are treating lost causes. Health promotion is one of the most vulnerable health service budgets, and its messages are often ignored - so is it time to give more money to promoting healthy lifestyles and will people listen?