Main Feature: From Cradle to Grave
Sixty years ago, as Britain struggled through the postwar gloom, a new beacon was lit. The National Health Service, launched on 5 July 1948, was the cornerstone of the new Welfare State, which promised free universal healthcare alongside housing and education for all as a reward to the British people for their long sacrifices. Britons would henceforth be cared for 'from the cradle to the grave'.
The new NHS was a great success, but hopes that preventative care would ultimately improve the nation's health and reduce the burden on the system proved unrealistic. Spending quickly rocketed, and the government was forced to introduce dental charges to help fund it; prescription charges soon followed. But despite constant anxiety about its state, the NHS remains hugely popular and largely effective: costly and cumbersome, certainly, but the pride of Britain and the envy of others.
The National Health Service
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 Student Nurse (1962) |
