05/07/2023
Today marks 75 years of 🥳🎊👏
The history of the NHS
Treating 1.3 million people a day in England, the NHS touches all our lives, and today we cannot imagine life without it. As we mark 75 years of the NHS, we look back on the achievements of our organisation, as well as looking ahead to the opportunities we have to shape the future. 75 years on, the NHS’s founding principles remain intact. The public still support having a national health service, with 94% of people agreeing that healthcare should be free of charge, 84% that care should be available to everyone, and 62% that the NHS made them most proud to be British.
When it was founded in 1948, the NHS was the first universal health system to be available to all, free at the point of delivery. Those principles remain as relevant, and valued, today as they did in the years after the Second World War.
And since then, the NHS has innovated and adapted to meet the needs of each successive generation, always putting patients at the heart of everything it does.
Between 1948 to 1973, the number of doctors doubled, whilst anaesthetics advanced to enable longer and more complex surgery. Large-scale vaccination programmes protected children from whooping cough, measles and tuberculosis. We delivered huge medical advances, including the world’s first liver, heart and lung transplant, to pioneering new treatments, such as bionic eyes to restore sight.
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Kudos to NHS for 75 years of service. We celebrate you ‼️