Inverse care law

Jump to: navigation

QuotationMarkLeft.png The availability of good medical care tends to vary inversely with the need for it in the population served. This inverse care law operates more completely where medical care is most exposed to market forces, and less so where such exposure is reduced. The market distribution of medical care is a primitive and historically outdated social form, and any return to it would further exaggerate the maldistribution of medical resources. QuotationMarkRight.pngJ Tudor Hart[1]

Professor Julian Tudor Hart, who worked as a GP in the Valleys area of South Wales, is generally accredited with having coined this term in 1971.

[2]

References

  1. Tudor Hart J. The inverse care law. Lancet 1971;297(7696):405-412 (full text available at [1])
  2. Tudor Hart J. The inverse care law. Lancet 1971;297(7696):405-412 (full text available at [2])