Brian Abel-Smith

Brian Abel-Smith
Brian Abel-Smith
Born(1926-11-06)6 November 1926
London, England
Died4 April 1996(1996-04-04) (aged 69)
London, England
EducationHordle House Prep School
Haileybury College
Alma materClare College, Cambridge
OccupationEconomist
Parents
  • Lionel Abel-Smith (father)
  • Genevieve Lilac Walsh (mother)
RelativesAbel Smith (great-grandfather)
Military career
Allegiance United Kingdom
Service/branch British Army
Years of service1946-48
UnitOxfordshire and Buckinghamshire Light Infantry

Brian Abel-Smith (6 November 1926 – 4 April 1996) was a British economist and expert adviser and one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century in shaping health and social welfare.[citation needed] In Britain, his research for the Guillebaud committee in 1956 proved that the NHS provided extremely good value for money and deserved more investment. From the 1960s he was one of a new breed of special advisers to Labour government ministers – helping Richard Crossman, Barbara Castle and David Ennals to reconfigure the NHS, set up Resource Allocation Working Party, and the Black Inquiry into Health Inequalities. Internationally, he steered the development of health services in over 50 countries. He was a key WHO and EEC adviser, intimately involved in setting the agenda for global campaigns such as Health for All by the year 2000.