public health

• Wars were much bigger than they had been previously and weapons were more destructive so doctors needed better training and skills to cope with this change.
• • Due to the work of reformers like Florence Nightingale, hospital cleanliness & organisation improved, & nurses were better trained
  • Nurses were given a more central role caring for patients & assisting doctors. They were trained for the first time in hospitals
  • Many new hospitals were built. By 1860, London had 36 specialist hospitals
  • Hospitals now trained doctors & surgeons & had a dispensary for preparing & giving out medicines
  • Specialist hospitals (e.g asylums for the mentally ill) developed
  • Public pressure led to infirmaries being set up for the poorest in society