In moments of informal discussion over the luncheon and coffee tables at the 11th International Congress of Dermatology in Stockholm, American colleagues and colleagues of other nationalities were interested to know something of the British National Health Service and the effect it has had on the practicing dermatologist. Many questions were asked, and it was soon realized that those outside Britain knew little about the organization of medicine in the United Kingdom since 1948, when our National Health Service was introduced. An American colleague felt that to be forewarned was to be forearmed, and it was on his suggestion that this brief review has been prepared. An attempt has been made to keep it as factual as possible, and its content, for the most part, is confined to the Health Service as it affects the specialist, in particular the dermatologist, and not the general