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On 8 November the New Statesman, in association with Pfizer, held the fourth in a series of six round-table discussions. This event focused on health inequalities.The shared conclusion was that inequalities exist and that most arise from the complex interactions between health,wealth,power and social status.The presence of the Secretary of State for Health helped crystallise the group ’s thinking:to make a real impact on health inequalities,the NHS must change from an "illness service" to a true "health service".The discussion drew on real-life examples and revealed that self determination and patient empowerment are the necessary pre-cursers to this change.If the government wants to help the NHS meet this challenge then adopting the viewpoint of the patient should be the first step.

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