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What is the NHS for?
 The
NHS was a spin off of the Beveridge (left) Report, written during
the darkest days of World War II, it outlined the whole of the
Welfare State, which was brought in at a time of huge austerity,
with a vision that leaves us gobsmacked; truly a giant on whose
shoulders we crouch, dizzy with the height. Beveridge made a vital
point; that health services are meaningless, and can have little
impact on health, without education, housing, employment and social
security as part of the package. A nice description of the impact of
the report in
The Five Giants, by Nicholas Timmins
Aneurin
Bevan, who brought in the NHS as Health Minister, wrote the book 'In Place of Fear' in the early 1960's. This
appears to have been the central tenet of his belief in the NHS.
Its aim was to remove fear at a number of levels. The first was
fear of death and disease and its effects, that they would be cared
for and kept out of pain, the second the fear poor
people felt at not being able to afford treatment if they became
ill. A third was the fear that the cost of treatment would bring
families near to destitution in order to meet the bills. This last
fear is well understood in the present day in the USA by those who
are not adequately covered by health insurance.
My contention is
that the primary function of the NHS is still, over 60 years later,
to relieve fear. Curiously one commentator said that my conclusion
was
cynical, yet what more important function than to relieve fear?
There has been some work to suggest that health services have an
impact on death and disability rates, but beyond the important job
of vaccinating kids. If you are not bored yet,
click here
for more.
Why do we have hospitals
I spent quite a high proportion of my working
life campaigning for the closure of hospitals. As with most of my
campaigns (apart from smoking in public places - wey hey! All that
getting up at 6am to fight with the Forrest bloke on Radio Wales! I
did have one groupie, who heard me, but only one) this one shows no
sign of success. I wrote a book on the subject back in 1995.
The dear Australians still have a
copy.
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