LSE Language Centre, in collaboration with the Department of Philosophy and Scientific Method and the LSE Students' Union Drama Society, present an evening of analysis and discussion of health service resource allocation and medical ethics.

Professor Alex Voorhoeve, who specialises in this field, as well as publishing and broadcasting on the topic, discusses these issues together with Dr Anna Smielewska, an NHS professional from Addenbrooke’s Hospital, University of Cambridge.

The evening will culminate in a staged production of Shaw’s 1906 play The Doctor’s Dilemma. A top Harley Street consultant, who has a cure for tuberculosis but only a very limited supply of the drug, must choose between saving from certain death a well-meaning and selfless yet mediocre East End GP or an artist whose works possess genius though he himself is described as a ‘scoundrel’.

Beveridge was coached by Shaw in 1907, when addressing Parliament on Social Insurance, and in 1942, when he delivered his Report paving the way for the NHS, Shaw characteristically claimed in the press ‘if he were alive now Karl Marx would probably denounce Sir William Beveridge as a rascally appeaser, trying to ransom capitalism for another spell by his Report’ but, Shaw said, Beveridge was no rascal.

Anna Smielewska is a Registrar in Clinical Virology in Addenbrooke’s Hospital, Cambridge. She has experience in diverse hospital settings including outpatients, intensive care and pathology. She is currently researching new approaches to treating respiratory viruses.

Alex Voorhoeve is Professor in the Department of Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method at LSE. He works on the theory and practice of distributive justice, in particular on fair priority setting in health.

Twitter hashtags for this event: #LSEBeveridge #LSEFestival

This event is part of the LSE Festival: Beveridge 2.0 running from Monday 19 to Saturday 24 February 2018, with a series of events rethinking the welfare state for the 21st century and the global context. The full programme will be online in January 2018.