Centre for Health and the Public Interest

Who we are

The Centre for Health and the Public Interest (CHPI) was founded in 2012 after it became clear that a growing democratic deficit had emerged in the way decisions about health and social care policy were being made.

Policy making had become opaque and centralised, with an increasing number of inappropriate conflicts of interest being tolerated. The need for an independent public-interest think-tank on health and social care policy was brought into sharp focus when the Health and Social Care Bill was introduced in 2011 to dismantle many of the founding principles of the NHS, including the constitutional duty of the Secretary of State for Health to provide healthcare for all.

Since then, the NHS and social care sector has been subjected to funding cuts, privatisations and a series of top-down reorganisations that have harmed the efficiency and effectiveness of the system, demoralised NHS staff and worsened the experience of care for patients and their families.

No other evidence-based and independent research body currently exists to present a critical view of the far-reaching and ongoing changes imposed upon the NHS since 2012.
The aim of the Centre is to subject current policy to careful, evidence-based critical scrutiny; explore alternative solutions to the challenges of providing universal high quality health and social care; promote greater democratic determination and accountability in the organisation and delivery of health and social care; and advocate for probity, integrity and transparency in health policy-making