The NHS matters to all of us, but resources are dwindling
(Cadmium)

Why does the NHS matter?

We take free healthcare for granted now, but it’s actually a relatively recent invention.

The National Health Service (NHS) was founded in 1948 by the post-war Labour government. It was paid for out of general taxation to provide free healthcare for all. This had a huge effect on general well-being. Before this, if you were ill you had to scrape together money for private treatment or beg for charitable help. But the NHS has never been problem-free. In 1952, the government found that it had underestimated costs and was forced to bring in prescription charges.

The NHS soon became key to national identity, with different parties competing to be the ‘party of the NHS’. Even the pro-market Margaret Thatcher said ‘The NHS is safe in our hands’.

Today, we seem to be more concerned about the NHS than ever before. It comes top of people’s political concerns and dominates politicians’ speeches. Why?

Perhaps because, in a more individualistic society, healthcare is one of the few things that we really need from the state. And we’re all becoming more obsessed with our health. We watch what we eat and monitor our exercise. And some doctors have noted the phenomenon of the ‘worried well’ – fit young people turning up at surgeries convinced that they have got cancer or some other illness. The more we worry about our health, the more we focus on the NHS.