Theme 2 b 2 - The National Health Service 1945-79 Flashcards
In 1945- what was clearly behind the creation of the NHS?
What parties had promised to create one in their manifestos prior to the general election?
Clear political consensus!
Conservatives & Labour
Who became the new Labour prime minister?
Who did he give the position of minister for health ?
Clement Attlee
Labour Left-winger, Bevan!
Who devoted themself to the creation of the National Health Service act between August 1945 & July 1946?
Bevan!
Between the founding of the NHS & election of Margaret Thatcher in 1979- what did both parties - Conservatives and Labour remain committed to?
Providing a National Health Service!
The National Health Service Act, 1946
The Act established a National Health Service based on what principles?
- Healthcare would be universal to all.
- Healthcare would be comprehensive and would offer
- curative & preventative care.
- Mental & physical healthcare.
-Hospital care, general practise surgeries, dental care & other specialist services such as opticians.
- Healthcare would be free: patients would not pay for the care they recieved at the point of delivery. NHS- paid for by direct taxation rather than insurance.
In order for Bevan to achieve the principles for the NHS- what system did he create for the NHS?
Nationalised but regionalised system!
- All existing hospitals were nationalised: local authority, voluntary & private hospitals- merged into one unified system.
- NHS hospitals- run by regional hospital boards managed by executive committees, with local health authorities providing services such as ambulances, vaccinations & community nursing.
Until the foundation of the NHS- July 1948- what did Bevan struggle to get from doctors?
Co-operation
Until the foundation of the NHS-July 1948 Bevan struggled to get co-operation of doctors.
What did he agree to do in order to get co-operation of doctors?
- Consultants were allowed to continue working privately and were allocated beds in hospitals for private patients.
- GPs- were able to avoid becoming local authority employees & therefore subject to local authority pay controls.
- Regional health boards were appointed , not elected, and were dominated by consultants who tended to be upper middle class.
The early NHS
What system was the NHS initially?
A tripartite system- meaning that it comprised of 3 tiers.
- Hospital services: accident & emergency services & in-patient treatment for serious illnesses.
- Primary care: GPs, dentists, opticians and pharmacists all operated as independent contractors (private businesses, not run by the NHS but who sold their services for a profit.)
- Community services: Health visitors, vaccination services, health education, midwives & ambulances were all managed by local authorities, not directly by the NHS.
The early NHS
What was the provision like across the country?
In 1948- what was it made up of?
Not equal provision- it inherited the existing infrastructure, which was distributed unequally across the country.
Made up of:
- 3,100 hospitals.
- 550,000 beds.
- Employed 360,000 staff.
The development of the NHS
What did Macmillans Conservative government introduce in 1962?
What did this lead to?
Hospital Plan.
- The creation of 90 new hospitals.
- The redesign & modernisation of 134 hospitals.
- The refurbishment of 356 hospitals.
When was the Hospital Plan introduced and who by?
1962
Macmillan’s Conservative government.
The development of the NHS
What did Sir Keith Joseph, Conservative secretary of state for social services 1970-74 introduce?
What was this and what did it lead to?
- NHS Reorganisation Act, (1973) which introduced a new management structure to the NHS.
- This led to significant growth in management costs between 1974-1979.
The development of the NHS
When was the NHS Reorganisation Act introduced?
1973
The development of the NHS
What did Dr David Owen, Labour minister of state for health 1974-76 establish?
What did it identify?
- Established the Resource Allocation Working Party.
- Identified areas of health deprivation, allocating additional resources to reflect the need of different communities.
