NHS

• Speaker: 'Welcome to this rapid revision video looking at the creation of the National Health Service or NHS'
• Slum housing in Glasgow in around 1910 was a reality for many poor people before the NHS was founded
• People who were poor in the early part of the 20th century struggled to support themselves fully and provide for their children, including healthcare
• Despite political arguments over the NHS funding and responsibility for looking after the poor, the situation has vastly improved
• The government is much more involved in people's lives today compared to the past
• A report by government Minister William Beveridge set out the foundations for the welfare state and the National Health Service


  1944
• Many British people saw the creation of the NHS as a reward for fighting and suffering through the tough years of war
• In the 1945 election, the Labour government promised to enact much of what Beveridge had recommended in his report
• The Labour party won a landslide Victory in the 1945 election


  They had the freedom to enact laws as they wanted
• The social insurance and Allied Services report by William Beveridge suggested guaranteed free healthcare for all, free at the point of delivery
• The idea behind the National Health Service is to provide care from cradle to grave
• The minister in charge of establishing the NHS was Aneurin Bevan, who believed in government duty to help the poor and the sick
• The welfare state was supposed to care for people from cradle to grave, providing various services for children, adults, and the elderly
• Government support provided

  • Allowances and sick pay for those who could not work temporarily because of sickness or injury
  • Unemployment pay (Dole)
  • Training for those trying to get back into work
  • Pensions for those unable to work
  • Money for those on no income or on only very small incomes
  • Maternity grants
  • Retirement pensions for the elderly
  • Care homes
  • Home help
  • Meals on Wheels
  • Financial help for funeral costs
• Introduction of the National Insurance scheme in 1911


  Didn't cover well women, children, the elderly, or the infirm
• Impact of World War II: People felt owed the NHS for their service and sacrifices during the war
• Reasons some people were against the NHS

  • Local authorities and voluntary hospitals would lose their powers and be taken over
  • Suspicion of government involvement in everyday life
  • Concerns over costs
  • Fear of doctors losing income by becoming NHS doctors
• Introduction of the NHS coincided with a period of technological development in medicine
• Technological developments in medicine

  • Scans and monitors
  • MRI scans
  • Microscopes
  • Electron microscope
  • Endoscopes
  • Nuclear medicine
  • Radiology
• Virtually all expensive and cutting-edge developments in medicine were available on the NHS
• After the Second World War, William Beveridge recommended that the government should care for people from Cradle to grave
• In 1948, the National Health Service began providing Health Services free at the point of delivery
• Today, the NHS is tremendously popular in Britain but arguments over how it should be funded and run persist