One of the major achievements of the Atlee’s government was the introduction of the National Health Service in 1948. This service aimed to provide medical services to every citizen in the United Kingdom.
The minister of health at the time, Aneurin Bevan, was one of the greatest advocates of the service. The National Health Insurance system was able to provide health services to 21 million citizens but left the rest of the population to pay for their medical services. The Labour and the Beveridge party came to the realization that people are being deprived off health services mainly because they are not able to afford it. Many doctors did not like the introduction of the National Health Service. The logical reason underlying the doctors’ reactions was that they felt that they would lose money as a result. They believed that the freedom of their profession was going to be jeopardized. Their projections indicated that the number of private patients available to them was going to reduce drastically and, as a result, they will lose out on their finances. The doctors also had the worry that the National Health Service will subject their patients to certain doctors hence they will not be able to choose their own. However, they later realized that their worry was unfounded. Many people appreciated the introduction of the National Health Services. Almost the entire medical profession joined the National Health Service after its inception. Its popularity was however unplanned for. Its resources were being used up much more quickly than it had been anticipated. Funds set aside for glasses, and dental surgery got quickly depleted. The program had set aside £2 million for free spectacles to be used in nine months. This amount had been already used up within the first six weeks. By 1950, the British government had estimated that the National Health Service would require funding of £140 million per year. However, the National Health Service ended up costing £358 million per year. Therefore, since the introduction of the service in 1948, the National Health Service has always appeared to be coming short on money. The Conservatives had promised to maintain the National Health Service during the 1950 election campaigns, but its popularity proved to be irrelevant since the Labour Party eventually won the elections. After taking over the government, the Labour party tried to make adjustments to the service by introducing a charge on medicine prescriptions and dental treatment. Aneurin Bevan resigned to protest against this because he insisted on free health services.
[2]Before the introduction of the National Health Service, the health care organization and general access to it was coupled with a number of drawbacks. The National Health Service was introduced by Lloyd George, who was the chancellor in 1911. There were benefits that were accrued out of this for a low-income earner. It however did not include dependents. The contributions were not scaled according to the income one earned, but it was at a flat rate. The employer and the employee shared the contribution on a fifty-fifty basis. Their contributions earned cash benefits for accident, sickness and disability. The contributors were also entitled to free care from a local doctor. This was, however, limited. The only entitlement they received to hospital treatment was when the suffered from tuberculosis. The doctors got a “capitation fee” which was a standard payment for each patient they treated in the panel. Before 1948, the insurance service introduced by Chancellor Lloyd George was one of the largest healthcare systems in Britain. There were other systems providing medical assistance. The Poor Law, for instance, focused on providing healthcare to the poorest citizens. It also provided other services such as health education and meals in schools. Voluntary hospitals were another major hospital system that provided care to the Britons before the introduction of the National Health Services. The voluntary hospitals were mainly supported by donations from subscribers. In 1930, this system experienced a financial crisis. Briefly put, the British health care system before 1948 was riddled with a lot of problems. It was made up of a shady combination of several institutions which did not exactly meet the people’s need as far as health care was concerned. There was no access to health care for one’s dependents, and there was also no access to hospital care. Most of the citizens used to get over the counter medicine in local pharmacies. Therefore, medical attention caused major financial problems for families in Britain.
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