DESCRIPTION OF ASSIGNMENT: THE NATIONAL HEALTH SERVICE

The National Health Service

The National Health Service

Question no: 1

(NHS) the National Health Service is a common name for the three main publically funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. The English (NHS) is called the National Health Service, whereas the other two are called NHA Wales and NHS Scotland. In the Northern Ireland the health and social service is known as HSC instead of NHS. (Penelope 2003, Pp.94-101) All these systems are politically accountable to the respective states and governments, while operating on independent basis. The English (NHS) is accountable to the UK government. In spite of their separate funding mechanisms and administration, Each of these health systems do not discriminates among the residents of other country.

The debate about what form the UK health service should take has continued since at least the 1920s. The debate continues and because there are no technically correct solutions to deciding what are really political issues it will no doubt continue into the future. The setting up of the NHS owed little to the Labor Party or the Socialists in its early days. Left-wing thinking during the 1920s '30s and '40s was that health was not a priority. Their argument was that if matters such as wage rates, housing, nutrition, education and so on were dealt with, sickness and illness would look after itself. It is certainly true that the biggest health gains during the last century have come through improved housing and sanitation, but it was fanciful to believe that health could be ignored.

The Dawson committee in the 1920s, the BMA and various other commissions and writers had seen the need to address the ramshackle patchwork of services which had grown up in the UK by the time of the Second World War. (Robert,1988, Pp.11-35)In particular, there were two hospital services that were always on the edge of bankruptcy. The war itself added to the pressures on the health services and showed up their inadequacies, though it did improve the financial state of the hospitals temporarily as people injured in the fighting or as a result of bombing were paid for from taxation. A committee under Lord Beverage, a Liberal peer, during the Second World War set up a blueprint for a welfare state in the UK in 1942.

After much talk, the 1946 National Health Service Act was introduced on 1 April, 1948. Probably the most important feature of the Act is the opening words in which the Secretary of State is made responsible for providing a comprehensive health service. The word 'comprehensive' is defined in terms that cover the whole population and included 'all necessary forms of health services'. (Marilyn, 1997, Pp. 3-7)There are no restrictions. In consequence, if a patient or health professional can make a claim that their health is being adversely affected and that a treatment or intervention is available to avoid this situation, it must be given.

This comprehensiveness is remarkable and singles the NHS out from all other forms of social ...