I have recently started rereading "The Citadel" by A J Cronin. I think this should be compulsory reading for all doctors. Cronin lived and worked in the same area, and hospital as Aneurin Bevan and almost certainly had an influence on the formation of the NHS. The book gives an insight into the practice of medicine, and the mindset of the doctors and medical institutions in the years before the war. The more I read it the more I come to the conclusion that depressingly little has changed.