History of the National Health Service

HISTORY OF TH
NATIONAL HEALTH
SERVICE

Table of Contents
INTRODUCTION...........................................................................................................................3
MAIN BODY..................................................................................................................................3
Change in structure, funding and expectations of NHS since it’s establishment in 1948...........3
Margaret Thatcher Ideology........................................................................................................3
Tony Blair Ideology.....................................................................................................................4
David Cameron Ideology.............................................................................................................5
REFERENCES................................................................................................................................1

INTRODUCTION
NHS has been actively providing medical and healthcare services to the patients in
England since the year 1948 when it was first set up. In the current essay, it will be evaluated
how the structure of NHS has evolved with time and how the funding of this organisation has
changed with time has also been highlighted in this essay. The ideologies that were formulated
under Thatcher government, Blair government and Cameron government have been highlighted
in the essay and appropriate conclusion is drawn.
MAIN BODY
Change in structure, funding and expectations of NHS since it’s establishment in 1948
National Health Service (NHS) was first set up under National Health Service Act 1946
and was established with the aim of giving medical care and assistance to the patients. It was
tripartite system when it was set up in the year 1948 addressing three aspects namely:
Hospital Services: There were 14 hospital boards operating at regional level in England and
Wales and included 400 committees whose task was to monitor the hospitals (National Health
Service History, 2019). There were teaching hospitals as well and these were governed by
another board of governors.
Primary Care: Executive Councils were created so that contracts that were being entered into
by the general and local practiotners could be administered and payment could be made
(Simmons, 2015). GP’s, LP’s, Dentists, Pharmacists were hired as individual contractors i.e. they
were paid for the each number of patient that they treated and not as a salaried employee.
Community Services: The local authorities were made responsible for the Maternity and
welfare clinics for child, midwives, vaccination, immunisation, health education, ambulances etc.
However, with time it was found that the tripartite structure was not feasible and there
were huge gaps and duplications in the England and Wales which led to passing of the
responsibility of NHS in Wales to the Secretary of state for health and further led to restructuring
of the NHS in England in 1974 (Jiong and Shaolong, 2015). In 1970s and 1980s the pressure
regarding the increasing costs increases and there were many disasters like contaminated blood
products etc.
Margaret Thatcher Ideology
The conservative party led by PM Margaret Thatcher was a huge supporter of the concept
of NHS and introduced modern management process in 1980s. In Griffith’s report of 1983, it