Main description:

60 years of the UK's National Health Service and the NHS is treating more people than ever and the population is living longer, healthier lives. That's the good news. But what about the bad news? Most histories of medicine concentrate on 'who invented what' or on the lives of great medical figures. This history looks at the effect on medical science of politics, religion, money supply and social mores. Illustrated throughout by the very coins with which the the medical staff may have been paid this book is a reminder that medicine has never been free. Someone has to pay for it and in most developed countries that someone is, at least in part, the taxpayer. Are we getting value for money and would another system provide a better service? Having examined the history of State Medicine the book looks in depth at the problems facing the NHS and compares them with healthcare delivery in other developed nations from around the world. State medicine with all its warts! Celebrating the 60th anniversary of the NHS in a critical but balanced manner!

Contents:

Preface; Introduction -- Medicine in Prehistoric Times and in the Ancient World; Medicine in the Middle Ages; Medicine in the Early Modern Period; Modern medicine and the build up to the UK National Health Service; The Welfare State; Reorganisation and industrial action in the 1970s; Fundamental Changes in the NHS; How does the NHS compare with the Health Services in other Countries?; Successes in the present day NHS but also ethical dilemmas in a rationed health service; The Medical profession and the NHS: what went wrong?; Medical Error and Negligence, The Witch-hunt and Suspension; Why do some doctors find it so hard to work in the present political climate?; Dentistry and Nursing; Political whim and fancy; What has gone wrong with the patients?; State Medicine: The Future; Index.