The Defence Medical Services provide to a British population healthcare ser
vices that are funded from taxation and are free at the point of delivery.
This paper reviews some principles for determining entitlement to healthcar
e for the population cared for by the Defence Medical Services. The startin
g point for entitlement uses the principles under which the National Health
Service (NHS) was established. These are then extended to acknowledge the
limitations of an NHS model when considering occupational health issues and
geographical variations in healthcare provision.