Public health implications of ageing. The Milroy Lecture.

The National Health Service reforms have placed public health medicine centre stage in controversies over the internal market, rationing of health care, and issues of equity in access to care. One of the key determinants of the need for reform in health services internationally is the demographic transition of post-industrial countries into an ageing population. This paper considers some of the implications of ageing and how public health medicine might respond to these new challenges.