Theme 2 b 4 - The challenge of medical advances Flashcards
How was the NHS to an extent a victim of its own success?
- The effectiveness of NHS hospitals led to increasing expectations.
- Longer lives led to an ageing population with more comple health needs.
- Medical advances meant that the NHS could perform new procedures.
Expansion of treatments, 1948-64
In June 1948- how many prescriptions were dispensed by chemists?
How did this change by September 1948?
June 1948- 6.8 million prescriptions dispensed. (Last month before NHS introduced).
September 1948- figure risen to 13.6 million.
Expansion of treatments, 1948-64
When was there a ‘pharmacological revolution’ ?
Between 1949 & 1964
Expansion of treatments, 1948-64
What happened due to the ‘pharmacological revolution’ ?
How much more did the NHS spend on drugs in 1964 compared to 1951?
- More and more medicines became available. Led to increasing NHS drug costs.
- Spent 250% more. Largely due to the fact that drugs became more expensive!
Expansion of treatments, 1948-64
What happened to vaccinations?
- Vaccinations increased scope of NHS provision.
- Prior to 1939- only vaccine given routinely was for smallpox.
- By 1964- vaccines against diphtheria, TB, poliomyelitis, whooping cough and tetanus were all available universally.
Expansion of treatments, 1948-64
In 1959 - as a result of the Younghusband Report, what services did the NHS offer?
Chiropody services!
By 1964- what had the NHS proved to be?
- An extremely cost-effective way of improving public health.
- Although there were shortages and inequalities - NHS was rarely a major political issue.
- In general NHS patients felt that NHS provision far superior to pre-war medical provision and were therefore prepared to tolerate shortages and the dilapidation of many NHS hospitals.
The challenge of medical advances, 1964-79
From 1948-1960 what had there been little investment in?
What did the governments try to do in the 1960s & 1970s?
What happened also during this period?
- Little investment in modernising NHS hospitals.
- Tried to modernise the NHS and deal with long-term inequalities in provision.
- Also- there was an increasing demand on NHS resources & new treatment possibilities.
The challenge of medical advances, 1964-79
What happened to NHS spending ?
It increased at rates higher than those predicted in the 1950s.
The challenge of medical advances, 1964-79
- During the 1950s, what did the National Institute of Economic and Social Research predict that NHS spending would increase by per year between 1960-1975?
- What was the reality?
- What did this reflect?
- 3%
- 4.5%
- Reflected the greater demands being placed on the service, and the underfunding that had taken place between 1948 & 1964.
(However higher funding cuts took place in context of weaker economic growth & during the 1970s economic crisis.)
Treatment & staffing
Why did increasing high-tech medical lead to new challenges for the NHS?
Tend to require specialist staff to operate new technology.
Treatment & staffing
Wat treatments were the NHS able to provide in the 1960s?
Kidney dialysis.
Catheters.
Organ transplants.
Treatment & staffing
What did new new treatment procedures require in the 1960s?
Expensive technologies.
Expansion of specially trained staff.
Treatment & staffing
What happened to the number of consultants and nursing staff between the years 1964-1979?
What happened to the number of technical staff during the same period?
Increased by 66%.
Increased by 300%.
Treatment & staffing
What happened to the total number of NHS staffing between 1951-1979?
Increased from 407,000 (1951) to just over 1 million (1979).
An ageing population
In 1951 how many people were of retirement age?
How did this change by 1971?
1951- 7 million.
1971- 9 million.
An ageing population
In the 1970s- what surgery did hospitals begin to introduce for the elderly?
How many of these procedures did the NHS perform in 1979?
- Hip replacement surgery.
- 24,000 hip replacements.
Major surgery
Between 1964 & 1979- what surgery were there important advances in?
Organ surgery!
Major surgery
In 1979- how many kidney transplants did the NHS perform per year?
How many heart bypass operations did they perform?
What were these operations like?
800 kidney transplants.
5000 heart bypass operations.
Operations = time consuming & expensive and required lengthy periods of aftercare!
Treatment & staffing
What is an example of how medical developments can go horribly wrong?
Thalidomide!
- Developed as an antibiotic in the 1950s.
- Side effects noted- included drowsiness & prevention of morning sickness in pregnant women.
- Successfully relaunched as drug to aid women through pregnancy- thousands took it & as a result- 10,000 seriously deformed babies = born!
Contraception
What did the Family Planning Act of 1967 make available from 1968?
What happened to the policy in 1972 & 1974?
By 1979- how many women of child-bearing age had received free advice on family planning?
Planning advice to available to all women- regardless of medical need or marital status.
- 1972- policy reversed by the Conservatives.
- 1974- Policy reinstated by Labour.
One- third of women of childbearing age.
Crisis in the NHS?
What were the crisis that the NHS was facing in the 1970s?
- Growing demand for NHS services - due to increase in number of treatments available & growing age of population.
- Recognition that NHS had failed to deal with health inequalities.
- Economic crisis- made large increase in funding unlikely.
- Period- 1974-1979 saw collapse in economic confidence- was no longer for granted that economic growth would continue and support ever-increasing spending on healthcare.
