Healthcare (1945-79)
Creation of NHS
Bevan argued he got doctors by stuffing their mouths with gold
5 July 1948 90% of Doctors joined the NHS - 1 month before launch
Bevan granted doctors a fee for each patient on their books rather then paying a direct salary
Feb 1948 - 90% of the BMA voted against working within the NHS as it undermined their clinical independence
1946 National Health Service Act established a more coordinated centralised system
Impact of NHS
300 inadequate cottage hospitals were closed down with new centres of excellence were founded
Heart disease and cancer increased throughout the 1950s
Maternal death fell from one per 1000 births in 1949 to 0.18 in 1970
Arthritis continued to be the largest health problem affecting 200,000 men and 700,000 women
Developments of a MMR vaccine was developed by 1971 - offered free of charge in 1988
There was a 90% drop in cases of whooping cough by 1970 and syphilis was almost eradicated by the early 1990s
In the first 10 years, a new antibiotic drug was developed which caused the number of deaths of tuberculosis to fall from 25,000 a year to 5,000
NHS allowed Britons to take advantage of global improvements in combating disease through research
Expense of NHS
Medical advances in the 1960s and 1970s
Division of healthcare between GPs and public health authority made the cost-effective coordination of healthcare difficult to achieve
Number of staff increased - doubled from 5000,000 to 1m between 1948 -79
Higher public expenditures and demand for healthcare - people took up valuable time and resources with complaints of things like dandruff
1948 there was 1 antibiotic, by 1968 there were 3
NHS cost 4.1% of GNP in 1950 -14% by 1990
Only 6 took place between 1968-78 but the procedure became much safer in the 1980s after advances
CT scanner was invented in 1972 and became standard equipment in hospitals
Heart transplant in 1969
First hip replacement was carried out in 1962
Between 1962 and 1969 the number of women using it increased from 100,000 to 1m
NHS introduced contraceptive pill in 1961 which suppressed fertility in women
First kidney transplant took place in 1960