Development of the Welfare State and the NHS

Paper Summary:

This paper provides an overview health care provision before implementation of the national health service (NHS) in 1948 which bought universal free health care for all, including the impact of the industrial revolution, poor law, smallpox epidemic and Beveridge. It looks at how the provision of universal free health care worsened the accessibility to it of the poor and how although the aim of the NHS was to remove class inequalities in accessing this health care however, its implementation seems to have shifted the disadvantage of the middle classes to the lower classes.

From the Paper:

"To receive care under the Poor Law had to be in receipt of a medical order, which was available from one person the Relieving Officer. To obtain this order the Relieving Officer had to be tracked down and then the patient had to attend a meeting to explain why he could not pay for his medical care. If the patient was unable to do this then the only other option open to him was to be treated in a voluntary hospital."

More papers on Development of the Welfare State and the NHS:

• Analytical Essay # 146719 : "The Evolution of the Welfare State"
• Research Paper # 118876 : "Origins and Possible Renewal of the Welfare State"

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