1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996   Implementation of NHS 'internal market' Patient's Charter is introduced Allies attack Iraq over Kuwait invasion in the Gulf War Rajiv Ghandi assassinated British hostage John McCarthy is released in Beirut by Islamic Jihad Media magnate Robert Maxwell's body found in the Atlantic off the Canary Islands Gorbachev resigns as Soviet president Nurse Beverley Allitt prosecuted following suspicious deaths of children at a Lincolnshire hospital     Copyright © 1998, NHS