“Nye” Bevan

 

Architect of the National Health Service.

 

 

Controversial figure in post-World War II British politics and one of the finest orators of the time.

 

The son of a miner, Bevan became a collier's helper at 13 but had to leave the mines in a few years because of eye disease.

 

After two years at Central Labour College, London, he entered politics and in 1929 was elected to the House of Commons as Labour member from Ebbw Vale.

 

Throughout World War II he was a vigorous critic of Winston Churchill's coalition government but was equally critical of his own party.

 

From 1940 to 1945 he was editor of the independent Socialist Tribune.

 

As minister of health in Clement Attlee's Labour government of 1945, he was responsible for developing housing programs and for establishing the national-health service. He became minister of labour in January 1951 but resigned from the government the following April in protest against the rearmament program, which necessitated sharp cutbacks in social expenditures.

 

The national health service in Great Britain is a comprehensive public-health service under government administration, established by the National Health Service Act of 1946 and subsequent legislation.

 

Virtually the entire population is covered, and health services are free except for certain minor charges.

 

The services provided are administered in three separate groups:

General practitioner and dental services.

Hospital and specialist services.

Local health authority services.

 

General practitioners or family physicians give primary medical care to a group of persons who register with them. These doctors and dentists operate their own practices but are paid by the government on a per capita basis (i.e., according to the number of people registered with them). Their services are organized locally by an executive council. Physicians are free to contract in or out of the service and may have private patients while within the scheme.

 

Hospital  and specialist services are provided by professionals on government salaries working in government-owned hospitals and other facilities that are under the direction of regional authorities called hospital boards.

 

Local health authority services provide maternity and child welfare, post-hospital care, home nursing, immunization, ambulance service, and various other preventive and educational services. They may also operate family-planning clinics, as well as day nurseries for children.

 

The National Health Service is financed primarily by general taxes, with smaller contributions coming from local taxes, payroll contributions, and patient fees. The service has managed to provide generally high levels of health care while keeping costs relatively low.

 Encyclopædia Britannica