In 1942, with Britain still at war, a report by Sir William Beveridge identified five ‘giants’ blocking the road to reconstruction. One of them was Disease. At the time, healthcare was a patchwork of services that you paid for; a privilege, not a right. After its landslide victory in 1945, the new Labour government decided to change that. Prime Minister Clement Attlee appointed Aneurin Bevan, a fiery former coal miner, as Minister of Health. His task was immense: to build a national health service from scratch, one that would be available to all and free at the point of use. Bevan believed that no society could call itself civilised if the sick were denied aid for lack of money.
The Creation of the NHS
How Aneurin Bevan created Britain's National Health Service in 1948, winning over hostile doctors, and why its first years cost far more than expected.
Chapter 1
One of Five Giants
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Frequently Asked Questions
What was British healthcare like before the NHS?
Before 1948, healthcare was a mix of charitable and municipal hospitals. Some working men had insurance, but their families were often not covered. Access to medical care was often based on a person's ability to pay, not on their clinical need.
Why did doctors oppose the creation of the NHS?
Many doctors feared losing their professional independence and becoming salaried civil servants of the state. The British Medical Association led a campaign against the plan, with a vote in February 1948 showing over 40,000 doctors were against joining the new service.
Did the NHS cost what the government expected?
No, the first-year costs were nearly triple the initial estimates. This was due to huge, unmet demand for services like dentistry and spectacles. In the first year alone, over 5 million pairs of glasses were prescribed, costing far more than anticipated.
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