The National Health Service begins
The UK’s National Health Service started on 5 July 1948
Witness History · BBC World Service
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Show Notes
On 5 July 1948, the UK’s National Health Service began as part of a series of reforms with the aim of supporting and protecting Britain's citizens from the “cradle to the grave”.
The architect of the NHS was the health minister in the post-war Labour party government, Aneurin Bevan. The care was to be free for all and paid for by taxation.
The birth of the NHS was not without controversy, the British Medical Association worried that doctors would be turned into civil servants.
On the same day that the NHS was born, John Marks qualified as a doctor.
Dr Marks spoke to Louise Hidalgo about the early days of the NHS in this programme first broadcast in 2009.
(Photo: Prime Minister Aneurin Bevan meets staff at Park Hospital, Manchester on the opening day of the NHS Credit: Trafford Healthcare NHS/PA Wire)