The National Insurance Act of 1946 created the
basis of the modern Welfare State. The government also announced plans for a
"National Health Service" that would be;-
. . . free to all who want to use it. |
Some members of the medical profession were strongly opposed the plans for the new NHS
and, between 1946 and its inception in
1948, the British Medical Association (BMA)
mounted a vigorous campaign against the proposed legislation.
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In one survey of doctors carried out by the BMA in 1948, it claimed that only 4,734 out of the 45,148 doctors polled were in favour of a National Health Service.
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The NHS came into operation on July 5th, 1948. Three-quarters of the population signed up with doctors (GPs) under the new scheme on that day. Within two months, 39,500,000 people (ninety-three per cent of the population) had enrolled. About ninety per cent of general practitioners (over 20,000) participated in the NHS from its inception.
Not all were keen on the new National Health Service;-
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The State medical service is part of the Socialist plot to convert Great Britain into a National Socialist economy. The doctors' stand is the first effective revolt of the professional classes against Socialist tyranny. There is nothing that Bevan or any other Socialist can do about it in the shape of Hitlerian coercion.
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- The Daily Sketch, February, 1948
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Aneurin Bevan (Conservative) announced the provision of private beds in NHS hospitals in the House of Commons on 9th February 9th, 1948;-
We have provided paid bed blocks to specialists, where they are able to charge private fees. |
| greeted with shouts of "shame!" by Labour MPs |
I agree at once that these are very serious things, and that, unless properly controlled, we can have a two-tier system in which it will be thought that members to the general public will be having worse treatment than those who are able to pay. |
For history of the NHS, see "Time-Line" below.
NHS charges had been legislated for by parliament in 1949 but not implemented until
1952
(announced by Hugh Gaitskell, the Labour
Chancellor of the Exchequer in
April 1951)
when a charge of one shilling (5p) was introduced for prescriptions. A flat charge of one pound was introduced for dental treatment and half the cost of dentures and prescription glasses was payable by the patient.
Aneurin Bevan resigned in April 1949 over
the introduction of NHS charges and wrote to Clement Attlee explaining his reasons;-
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It is wrong because it is the beginning of the destruction of those social services in which Labour has taken a special pride and which were giving to Britain the moral leadership of the world. |
| 1948.Jul.05 | | Inauguration of the National Health Service | | BAAAGBWS | | 1949 | | NHS prescription charges legislated for (but not implemented until 1952) | | BAAAGBWS | | 1952 | | NHS prescription charges of 1 shilling (5p) introduced (legislated for in 1949), also a �1 flat fee for dental treatment | | BAAAGBWS | | 1962 | | Medical profession criticised the separation of the NHS into three parts - hospitals, general practice local health authorities - and called for unification in the Porritt Report | | | | 1962 | | Enoch Powell\\\'s Hospital Plan published; approved the development of district general hospitals serving population areas of about 125,000 (laying out the pattern for the future)
| | | | 1967 | | Salmon Report: makes detailed recommendations for developing the senior nursing staff structure and the status of the profession in NHS hospital management | | | | 1967 | | Cogwheel Report: first report on the organisation of doctors in NHS hospitals. Proposed speciality groupings that would arrange clinical and administrative medical work more logically | | | | 1967 | | Cogwheel Report: first report on the organisation of doctors in NHS hospitals. Proposed speciality groupings that would arrange clinical and administrative medical work more logically | | | | 1989 | | Government White Paper, Working for Patients outlines proposals for an internal market in the NHS
(implemented in the NHS and Community Care Act, 1990) | | | | 1990 | | NHS and Community Care Act: implements the creation of the internal market in the NHS proposed in the government white paper Working for Patients (1989) | | | | 1991 | | First wave of 57 NHS Trusts created | | | | by 1995 | | All health care in the UK provided by NHS trusts | | | | 1997.May | | New Labour government
pledges itself to abolition of the internal market in the NHS and declares its aims to build on successes, discarding what had failed | | | | 2004.Mar.31 | | First 12 NHS hospitals to be given controversial foundation status (April 1st), giving local managers more control budgets and services, named | | |
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From Cradle to Grave: fifty years of the NHS
, publisher The King's Fund (paperback ISBN1857171489)
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