Last year, we celebrated the NHS’s 75th birthday. This momentous achievement can be celebrated by having a brief look back at its history and how the NHS has shaped England, chartering an exciting course for the future of medicine whilst simultaneously taking care of the 56 million people in our country.
Listed below are the ten biggest milestones of the NHS.
1948 - Establishment of the NHS
Arguably, the most important of them all, the founding of the NHS was unique in that it had three core principles set out by Aneurin Bevan: to be accessible to everyone, have no charge and to be entirely based on an individual’s need and nothing to do with their funds. This revolutionised healthcare in England and meant it was much more accessible to individuals from all areas of society.
1958 - Polio and diphtheria vaccination
Polio and diphtheria can both have serious symptoms, such as paralysis (polio), difficulty breathing and large ulcers (diphtheria). Both infections are highly contagious, but thanks to a speedy and efficient vaccination programme rolled out by the NHS and administered to children under 15 using ‘immunisation vans’, cases of both polio and diphtheria reduced very dramatically.
1959 - Mental Health Act
The introduction of this Act can be seen as the point where mental health was first officially acknowledged by the NHS as a reason to be admitted into hospital. This was revolutionary as it enabled mental health to be more widely spoken about by both health professionals and communities, therefore making it less of a taboo subject. This allowed for major improvement in the mental health sector of medicine, such as therapy. The perception shift of mental health as an illness led to the rise of support services such as CAMHS (Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services) in more recent years.
1967 - Abortion Act
The Abortion Act allowed for the termination of a pregnancy when in the best physical and mental interests of the patient. It had to be approved by two doctors, a rule which is still used today. This was the beginning of women having more control over their reproductive rights, and it also saved countless lives as it meant people were not looking to have abortions in an illegal and unsafe manner. At this time, it was legal up to 28 weeks of the pregnancy but it has now been reduced to 24 weeks for the safety of the patient. This has become especially important recently, given the uncertainty and even hostility towards abortions in America.
1968 - First heart transplant in the UK
This impressive surgery was first performed in the UK on a 45-year-old patient, Frederick West by Doctor Donald Ross at the National Heart Hospital in London. The operation was so complex that it took a team of eighteen doctors and nurses over seven hours to perform. It was only the 10th heart transplant to be performed in the world. Nowadays, around 300 heart transplants occur every year in the UK.
1978 - The World’s first test tube baby
‘Test tube baby’ is an informal name for conceiving a child using the method of in vitro fertilisation. This process takes place in a laboratory where an egg is fertilised with sperm and is then returned to the womb where it develops into a foetus. The world’s first baby produced this way was Louise Brown, who lived to the age of 64. This method has now allowed countless individuals who struggle to conceive to be able to have a child, which is an incredible breakthrough for science.
1988 - Breast screening introduced
This NHS service is offered to all women over 50 years and routinely occurs every three years. This is the best way to find breast cancer, as it can be detected before any changes in one’s breasts even occur. This has meant that holistically, the survival rate of women with breast cancer is higher as treatment can be administered earlier than if screening was not used.
1994 - NHS organ donor register
This register was campaigned for by the parents of a 24-year-old man named Peter Cox, who died from a brain tumour and had asked for his organs to be donated. This has now allowed for millions of people to have access to life-saving organs. There are now over 25 million people opted-in on the register. More recent developments have come about through the passing of Max and Keira’s law, where we as a country now use an opt-out system, meaning all adults in England will be considered to have agreed to donate their organs.
2000 - NHS walk-in centres opened
These centres, which are of growing importance to our society, require no appointment and means that people can access vital services outside of office hours. These services are used for minor injuries and illnesses and are also intended to reduce the strain on GP surgeries. In recent years, they have been more commonly used to administer the COVID-19 vaccine and successive boosters to the nation.
2014 - NHS 111 launched
As our society becomes more technologically advanced, so too has our healthcare. This free medical number helps to administer medical advice rapidly that is not as urgent as a 999 call. It is open 24/7, even on bank holidays. Initially introduced to help relieve pressures on GPs and A&E, it has become a service that over 30,000 people use weekly. Further advancements have come with the NHS app, which allows people to access services such as managing appointments or ordering repeat prescriptions.
So overall, after taking a very brief tour of the NHS over time we can see how influential and vital it has been on a national scale. This especially has been highlighted in recent years, with the global pandemic and all the various levels of protection that were put in place to keep us safe. This has only made me more grateful for all the NHS staff who work tirelessly to make my life and others’ undeniably and indisputably better.
