The NHS is celebrating it's 75th anniversary this week - after being founded in July 1948 to provide free healthcare services for everyone in the UK.
The National Health Service has achieved many milestones over the years, but it has also weathered its fair share of storms, not least the Covid pandemic in recent times.
Today, health workers and the public are celebrating the 75th birthday of a service once called the envy of the world. However, the NHS is facing its biggest challenges yet, with insufficient funding, staff shortages and long waiting lists being cited as urgent issues that the government must address.
What is the NHS?
The NHS was created in the austere post-war years, when Britain was struggling to return to normality following the hardships of World War II. Its aim was to ensure no-one was missing out on medical treatment because they didn't have enough money.
The NHS values are working together for patients, dignity, respect, a commitment to the quality of care, showing compassion and improving lives, with the ethos, "Everyone counts." Funded by taxpayers, it is managed by the government.
It has never been a means tested service and is open to everyone, so all UK residents can benefit from free access to healthcare and while the basic premise has remained the same for 75 years, the structure and services offered by the NHS have moved with the times to ensure it continues to meet the needs of the population.
When was the NHS founded?
After first being discussed by the medical profession and government ministers in the 1930s, it gathered momentum and support, but the start of the war in 1939 meant any plans to proceed had to be put on hold. The NHS was officially founded on 5th July 1948.
As the post-war rebuilding of Britain began, the population embraced the idea of a whole range of key services being provided free of charge.
The planned launch of the NHS began in earnest, under a sweeping nationalisation programme, after the Labour Government was elevated to power in the General Election of July 1945.
Who founded the NHS?
The new Prime Minister Clement Attlee appointed Aneurin Bevan as Minister of Health in the aftermath of the election, tasking him with developing a National Health Service. Three years later, following prolonged discussions with fellow Labour ministers, the Conservative opposition and medical professionals, Bevan delivered what he had promised.
It wasn't an easy road, as some Conservative MPs and even his own Labour colleagues couldn't see how it would succeed. However, he stood firm and fought many verbal battles to get the service off the ground.
Bevan, the MP for Ebbw Vale, visited Park Hospital, in Davyhulme, Manchester, to formally declare that Britain had a National Health Service on Monday 5th July 1948.
How is the NHS funded?
The National Health Service is funded mainly through general taxation and by National Insurance contributions. While the portion of NHS funding that comes from NI contributions has increased in the 21st century, general taxation still accounts for most of the funding received by the NHS.
Today, individual NHS organisations (including hospital trusts) can generate more income by treating private patients as well as NHS admissions, through parking charges and land sales, for example. In any given year, the level of NHS funding is set by Central Government.
How does the NHS work?
A complex system that can make it difficult for the average person to understand, the NHS comprises a wide range of different healthcare organisations who all play their own role, each with its own responsibilities and specialities to collectively provide a variety of support and services to patients and carers.
There have been many changes over the years to the way the NHS is structured, but most people won't have realised this, as it has happened behind the scenes and doesn't impact how patients access their local GP or hospital.
However, the changes have affected the decision making process and budgeting at the highest levels when it comes to providing NHS services.
Key milestones for the NHS
Over the past 75 years, the NHS has achieved many milestones.
In 1949, the first major recruitment drive was launched to attract workers from the West Indies to join the NHS as the service expanded rapidly.
In 1956, the first polio immunisation programme began to combat one of the most serious childhood diseases of the era. The same year, the first kidney dialysis was performed at Leeds General Infirmary by Frank Parsons, marking the launch of the UK's first artificial kidney unit.
The first whooping cough immunisation programme began in 1957, followed by polio and diphtheria vaccination programmes for under-15s in 1958.
The UK's first successful cardiopulmonary by-pass programme began in 1958 at Hammersmith Hospital, London. 1960 saw the first kidney transplant at Edinburgh Royal Infirmary. The same year, the first implantable heart pacemaker was used.
Professor John Charnley carried out the first hip replacement surgery in 1962 at Wrightington Hospital in Wigan. In 1968, the first heart transplant was performed by leading surgeon Donald Ross in London, while Europe's first liver transplant was carried out by Prof Sir Roy Calne in Cambridge.
Paving the way for millions of childless couples; in 1978, Louise Brown, the world's first test-tube baby, was born as a result of IVF treatment developed by Dr Patrick Steptoe.
MRI scans were introduced in 1980, in the same year that keyhole surgery was successfully pioneered. In 1987, the UK's first purpose-built AIDS ward was opened by Princess Diana at Middlesex Hospital.
In 1989, the NHS launched free breast screening to reduce breast cancer deaths in women aged over 50. This was the first such programme in the world. The NHS Organ Donor Register was set up in 1994.
NHS 21st century milestones
The first NHS walk-in centres were introduced in 2000 to give patients easy access to a range of medical services.
The development of a robotic arm in 2007 led to new, pioneering heart operations for cardiac patients, while Europe's largest cancer centre, St James’s Institute of Oncology, opened in Leeds.
In 2010, Britain's first cochlear implant operation was carried out to provide hearing in both ears for a hearing-impaired patient.
In 2012, the 100,000 Genomes Project was announced, providing DNA mapping for cancer patients and those with rare diseases. The same year, the UK's first hand transplant was carried out at Leeds General Infirmary.
In 2016, surgeons at Leeds Teaching Hospital NHS Trust performed the first double hand transplant. The same year, NHS England funded Bionic Eye Surgery. One year later, a revolutionary new treatment for stroke patients, a mechanical thrombectomy, was rolled out.
In 2019, the NHS funded the first ever treatment for spinal muscular atrophy in children. The same year, the first in a new generation of gene therapies was launched to cure blindness in children.
Despite the serious challenges in the aftermath of the pandemic, frontline workers are still striving to provide patients with an excellent healthcare service that fulfils the ethos of why the NHS began 75 years ago.
From everyone at Gloveman, we’d like to thank you for your invaluable service.