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Editorial
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The practice of neurology has changed a great deal in the 60 years since the National Health Service was created in the United Kingdom. In 1948, hospitals were run by boards of governors and staffed by honorary consultants who earned their living in private practice. Health care was uneven for most of the population; delivered in grandiose style sprinkled with philanthropy; and further motivated by the need for a rich and varied clinical experience. After 1948, advances in biomedical science and the introduction of many new treatments altered clinical practice; and, with the expectation of equal access to increasingly elaborate medical and surgical interventions, costs increased exponentially. The sun was setting on the golden age of Victorian, Edwardian and between-the-wars neurology; and, in Great Britain, the subject now acquired a reputation for being stuck in the tradition of indulgent clinical description, dominated by the National Hospital Queen Square, whose corridors
Cambridge