History: Towards the Establishment of the NHS

Was the introduction of the National Health Service in 1948 a new and revolutionary model of universal health care, or the natural conclusion of a long process of growth in the understanding of illness and disease, and the development of professional skills and infrastructure to treat and support those who were sick? In this course you will discover the background to the decision to provide health care ‘free at the point of delivery’, and learn how we can trace the story from medieval charity to 20th century social investigation and political developments.

This day course uses a variety of pictorial and written evidence to explore the expansion of interest and involvement in health care through such means as the development of professional skills, the establishment of institutions both private and through local authorities, and the use of self-help models. We focus on East Anglian sources, and relate these to the national picture, considering the building of hospitals and the provision of other medical facilities, the effects of industrialisation and urbanisation in forcing issues relating to disease and public health, and the growing interest in sociological surveys and statistical analysis. We look at the changing political and social scene in the 20th century, and then consider how all these strands lead to the decision, in the aftermath of the Second World War, to legislate for a health service ‘from the Cradle to the Grave’.