Britain Healthcare

Question 1

What was the healthcare like in 1918

Answer 1

• sig. amount of HC was private- pay to see doc+ get treatment
• some employees were covered with health insur but there were also charitable hospitals for others
• the poor law also provided some basic care through poor law hospitals and infirmaries
• in 1911 the liberal gov intro a compulsory system of national health insur for those earnings less than £160 per year
• large insur companies, like prudential, provided 75% of health insur, while “friendly societies” provided HC to the poor
• some help provided by “voluntary hospitals” which were charitable organisations which treated life- threatening illnesses. These included university hospitals, specified certain diseases and cottage hospitals for rural areas. There were 12 voluntary hospitals in London, with a further 10 outside London

Question 2

Healthcare consensus

Answer 2

After the First World War there was consensus that the government should help in terms of healthcare through planning and coordinated of regional health services

Widely believed that medical science would Conroe to advance and that the government should invest in research and training, organise a national network of hospitals and play a role in rationing healthcare

However there were disagreements over the governments exact role

Question 3

What illness was a major issue after the First World War?

Answer 3

Tuberculosis was the most serious public health problem facing the nation

Prior to the war, the government had set up TB sanatoria to slow the spread of the disease

Question 4

Healthcare in the depression

Answer 4

• less than half the pop was insured against illness during the 1930s
• health service for the poor increased in importance during the Great Depression with the uninsured forced to rely on private care
• the depression focused the debate on HC with a new consensus that regional system was inefficient, varied in quality and didn’t meet the needs of all patients. Ministers however still preferred a regional solution

Question 5

Healthcare by 1939

Answer 5

• a lot was still the same. Many were still reliant on health insurance, poor law hospitals still existed as did voluntary hospitals. HC was largely regionalised
• however, child mortality had significantly dropped from 14.3 per 1000 in 1906 to 12 per 1000 by 1938. This was significantly higher in poorer areas with maternal mortality rates 50% higher.

Question 6

What was the average life expectancy by 1939

Answer 6

The average life expectancy was higher in the more affluent areas, middle class men lived 12 years longer than working class men, while middle class women lived 19 years longer

Question 7

What did people argue about British health care

Answer 7

That Britain lagged behind Australia and New Zealand in terms of medical care- it was inefficient, badly organised and poorly regulated

Question 8

The Second World War and health

Answer 8

• the war led to a number of centrally organised groups to aid the population
• a national system of blood transfusions were set up in 1938 near hospitals
• more importantly, an emergency medical service was set up in 1939 to help military and civilian injuries from bombing
• a significant amount of funding led to a growth in the number of beds, operating theatres and specialist treatments such as burns and the mending of broken bones
• the success of this was seen in improvement to health from rationing and gov propaganda to educate about health

Question 9

The NHS was set up on three fundamental principles, what were they?

Answer 9

1. Universal healthcare, available to all
2. Comprehensive healthcare offering curative and preventative care
3. Healthcare would be free: not paid at “point of delivery” but rather through direct taxation

Question 10

The national health service act 1946

Answer 10

• as a result of the success of wartime health provisions and the popularity of the bev report, clement Attlee chooses Aneurin began to get the NHS created
• they centralised healthcare with all hospitals nationalised but organised into a single system but run by regional health boards (14)
• local health authorities provided vaccinations, ambulances and nursing
• set its introduction date as 1948

Question 11

What was the response of doctors to the NHS?

Answer 11

In February 1948 90% of the British medical association votes against the NHS, they were worried that they would lose income. Bevan basically bribes them. Grants doctors a fee for each patient on their books rather than a salary and consultants could retain private patients. By July 1948 90% of doctors had joined the NHS