The NHS in Relation to the Welfare State essays

The NHS in Relation to the Welfare State essays The NHS in relation to the Welfare State The Beveridge report in 1942, illustrated five interrelated social problems, which the British Welfare State was designed to tackle, these were Want, Disease, Ignorance, Idleness and Squalor. (Moran, M et al 2001). This report was published in order to find a solution to Britains social ills, which had multiplied during the Great Depression of the 1930s and the experience of the Second World War. With the publication of this report it was realised that the Laissez-Faire style of government was inadequate in providing a safety net for the disadvantaged members of British society, and that a comprehensive system of welfare was required. Although the concept was in place, much of the system of welfare that we see today was not initiated until the Labour government came to power in 1945. They then passed key legislation such as The Family Allowance Act 1945, Housing Acts of 1946 and 1949 which brought about subsidy to tackle the housing problem. National Insurance acts of 1946 and 1948 which provided a comprehensive benefits system for all unemployed, disabled, elderly and survivors and The National Health Service Act 1948, (Budge, I et al 1998) which, initiated by Anuerin Bevan , who was Labours Health Minister between 1945 and 51, provided Britain with the worlds first nationalised health service run solely on public funding to provide free health care for all. This National Health Service begun by the Labour government in 1948,was designed to provide free and universally available health care for all. This was done by nationalising all hospitals, surgeries and university hospitals, and placing them under fourteen new hospital boards, distributed on a regional basis (in England and Wales only, as Scotland had a separate system). General Practitioners worked much as they had before, but their revenue was now provided by...