National Health Service in England

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National Health Service in England

The National Health Service body has touched lives of many people globally due to its significant contributions to the healthcare sector. The National Health Service Act advocated for universal free health care provided by a wide variety of physicians such as dentists, opticians as well as doctors among other hospital services. During this era poverty, sickness and unemployment in the society after the end of the world war. It was historically marked by the action of bringing all the physicians in the medicine field under one bracket where they could offer free healthcare services. The primary principles regarding National Health Service are precise that tax will fully finance the free health services to all people. It significantly meant that people have to pay for the health services offered but at their own means and time. The history of National Health Service in England since its establishment up to the year 2000 are discussed into a profound extent regarding the changes and developmental activities that has been instigated by the organization.

In the year 1948, Aneurin Bevan who was the health secretary took the initial step of launching the National Health Service at the Park Hospital in Manchester. It was a radical move which laid the background for the hospitals, doctors, nurses, dentists and the opticians to work together as in providing the free healthcare services to the civilians (Jones & Exworthy, 2015). It is a significant symbol of national cohesion where the public have free access to therapeutic services regardless of the wealth as well as the social class that one belongs to. It has been evident that the quality of medical services in various societies depend with the amount of payment leading to corruption and many other immoral vises in the community where the physicians take advantage of the patients’ ill-health. This was the kind of situation the National Health Service in England aimed to evade as everybody’s life and good state of health are valued and vital in enhancing the social-economic development of the nation.

In the evolvement of National Health Service, the introduction of charges prescription is a significant bit in the line of the organization’s history. In 1952, one shilling charge for the prescriptions was introduced after the decisions made by the people on top hierarchy, and it was later abolished in the 65s. After the abolition of medicament charges, the treatment remained unchanged up to the year 1968 when the charges were introduced again. Also, the launching of the program to fight against diphtheria and polio infections was an essential life-saving action initiated by the National Health Service (Guest, et al. 2015). According to the organization decision all the people under the age of fifteen years have to be vaccinated against polio and diphtheria. These two pandemics are life-threatening and detrimental to human well-being thus obtaining their vaccine as well as preventing their spread was a crucial achievement in the healthcare sector.

Availing of the contraceptive pills was another National Health Service organization objective that was vital and touching in the social living of people in the community. They significantly played an essential role in preventing unwanted pregnancy not only during the twentieth-century era but also in the society today. The number of women using contraceptive pills increased dramatically at the 1960s from around fifty thousand to about one million females. The hospital plan was another strategy that was criticized by the physicians where the National Health Service had to be divided into general practice, hospital and the local health authorities. During the calls of amalgamation, it was realized the establishment of district hospitals in the regions with high population. Also, the plan was essential in reducing the cost and time taken in the construction of new healthcare facilities.

The Report by Salmon recommended the expansion of the senior nursing staff as well as the energy put in trying to come up with practical measures to curb the disadvantages of the three segmented National Health Service structure. It was an effective way of recognizing the complexity of the National Health Service as well as the essential changes to be made to make the future objectives accomplishable. In the 1970s the computed tomography scans were introduced as they are critical to revolutionizing how the medic specialists examine the body (Abel-Smith & Titmuss, 2016). Apart from the MRI scans, which provide information about the organization that was introduced in the 1980s, the Keyhole surgery, black report, Aids health campaign and breast screening was also launched. The black report involves research regarding the inequality that exists in the healthcare centers where the black had the higher tendency to demise. The beginning of the Aids campaign was significant, and its impacts are experienced up to today as people are fully aware of the deleterious disease.

In the 1990s a variety of strategies were put in place by the National Health Service. These plans include National Health Service and the community care act; the initial National Health Service trusts developed as well as the organization’s direct launches. The community care act instigated that the healthcare managements manage their budgets and purchase the health services from other medical institutions (Morris, et al. 2014). The National Health Service direct launches play a vital role in the community of proving throughout online medical services. Lastly, in the year 2000, the National Health Service introduced the new health facilities that could be accessed at any time.

Throughout its history line, the National Health Service has been innovative and effective in offering the best health care services for free or even at a lower and affordable cost. As technology advances, with time great inventions are put in place, and they are vital in maintaining good well-being. National Health Service is a remarkable organization that has played recommendable activities in the medical field, and it touches both the present and future behavior.

References

Abel-Smith, B., & Titmuss, R. M. (2016). The cost of the national health service in England and Wales. Cambridge University Press.

Guest, J. F., Ayoub, N., McIlwraith, T., Uchegbu, I., Gerrish, A., Weidlich, D., … & Vowden, P. (2015). Health economic burden that wounds impose on the National Health Service in the UK. BMJ open, 5(12), e009283.

Jones, L., & Exworthy, M. (2015). Framing in policy processes: A case study from hospital planning in the National Health Service in England. Social Science & Medicine, 124, 196-204.

Morris, S., Karlsen, S., Chung, N., Hill, M., & Chitty, L. S. (2014). Model-based analysis of costs and outcomes of non-invasive prenatal testing for Down’s syndrome using cell free fetal DNA in the UK National Health Service. PloS one, 9(4), e93559.