Breakthrough in time....
of medicine in
Britain
Factors that led to the creation of
the NHS
In the early times and century of
Reference for picture – History extra
Britain, medicine and medical treatments where
harsh and rather dangerous to undergo. In early
times medical practices and ways of treatments
where unsuitable for patience. Treatments and
diagnosis were based on believed and theory (Four
Humours theory& miasma theory), in the times of
c-1250 to c - 1500 which gave people the ideas of
how diseases were caused and preventions people
can undergo to reduce the spread of diseases and
sicknesses. (CGP)
Unspecialised and unexperienced medical
officials, e.g., “barbers” were used by unprivileged
individuals and most people, because it was
expensive to see the trained officials which were
few and only affordable for the rich and wealthy
individuals. People also had to take medical
treatment in their hands, because the availability of
voluntary care homes were full and had low
supplies and experiences. This was very hard to
pull up with, because at those times wars and
certain pandemics where happening (. Cholera and
the ‘Black death’). This had major impact because
medical practices where poor which led to an
unhygienic environment and society. (CGP)
However, changes and development were seen
and a friendlier and approachable way of how
people practised and undergo medical treatments.
Establishment of new practices and surgery
methods gave the pathway of the development of
new methods and equipment e.g., antiseptics and
anaesthetics, which will aid a healthier and more
suitable way of medical treatments and practices,
hospitals and proper care facilities were established
which gave the reduction of illness and sickness.
However, the most development and change were
the establishment of the NATIONAL HEALTH
SERVICE(NHS)
Responds to the changing
demands of the NHS
The national health service, which is the
biggest health services across the
United Kingdom has developed and
have certain changes due to
development of the human society.
reference for picture - BBC
The NHS is responsible for
providing health care services to
residents in the UK, regardless they pay
or not. The NHS is adapting to the
changes of the society, due to the
demands for services across many
health sectors (NHS Confederation) and
development of technology, which
means certain new illness and diseases
may occur and the NHS needs to have
the upper hand, to tackle new illness
and diseases to aid healthcare in the
United Kingdom. One way is through
Research(NHS.UK)
The NHS has implemented new ways of
researching and providing resources to
aid the research processes. The NHS,
which played a key role in the COVID
19 research protocols(NHS.UK), by
supporting the recovery by
implementing the Randomised
Evaluation of COVID 19 therapy
programme, which was the worlds
biggest clinical trail(NHS.UK), by
bringing pooling resources with their
world- leading life sciences sector. This
was implemented to speed up the
researching on the Virus to aid a good
health care across the world. The NHS
provides the resources for researches, to
help tackle illness and diseases to bring
good healthcare services across the UK
and the world. Another way is
supporting care homes.(NHS.UK). The
NHS implemented a clinical support
programme that included a designated
clinical lead for each care facility as
well as primary and community support
services like weekly virtual check-ins,
 care plans, online appointments, tele -
health and medication reviews. This
way, people can have access from their
homes(Quora) and care homes can have
the resources to bring good healthcare
services and also help the NHS to
provide healthcare services across the
UK, with the help of new technologies
such as screening and many more, the
NHS can access this new technology
references for picture – NHS Scotland- and equipment, and implement it in
Wikipedia their hospitals and care homes to aid
healthcare services and to bring a better
approach of diagnosing and treating
The establishment of the NHS by the minister diseases and illnesses, compared to the
of health Aneurin Bevan was a major breakthrough practices in the early times.(CGP).
in Britain medicine. The establishment of the NHS
were aided to tackle health problems in Britain. Reference for picture – NHS
The NHS was created because of some factors, ENGLAND
e.g., war, health problems, etc. wars were
happening in Britain and the need for emergency
services were needed. (studocu). The five bad
giants (want, sickness, ignorance, filth, and sloth)
were named in a report by William Beveridge. By
identifying disease as a contributing cause, he
suggested a free national health service. This was
vital and there was a need for development.
Another factor was the effect of sickness on the
poor. The Poor Laws were the only legal means
available to assist persons in poverty prior to the
19th century. The impoverished were classified as
deserving or under deserving, and assistance was
given or withheld depending on these categories.
The Public Health Act (1848) was released as an
early attempt to enhance public health following a
study conducted by Edwin Chadwick. According
to Chadwick, if poor people's health were to
improve, there would be a decrease in the number
of individuals who sought for poor relief. Spending
money to increase public health was therefore a
better course of action. Several welfare
improvements were implemented between 1906
and 1914. These changes were made in order to aid
persons whose poverty was brought on by ailment,
unemployment, or old age. (studocu). All these
Another way the NHS has adapted to
factors and reports made by Chadwick and
the changes and demands is by
Beveridge were key parts of a free healthcare
Returning and employing new
system being introduced, due to the reports and
staffs(NHS.UK). Clinicians who have
factors, Aneurin Bevan had to establish The
left academia, retired, or worked in
National Health Service Act which it took two
other fields have returned to the NHS,
years of discussions and negotiations and
boosting its numbers. In order to
opposition from numerous parties before the first
provide more hands-on assistance with
NHS hospital was established. In summary certain
patient care, students have taken time
factors like war and poor people where the catalyst
off from training. Personnel have been
of the creation of the national health service.
moved to locations under strain. This is
to provide many health service
personnel’s and officials to aid and
perform in the health sector to provide
good healthcare services. In summary
the NHS has demands for new changes
and development across the health
sectors in the UK, with the help of
researching, providing and
embellishment of care homes, and other
factors such as new technologies and
methods and equipment and also the
 employment of health care officials and
so much more, The NHS has been able
to implement this new changes to help
with their demands and to improve the
healthcare services in the United
Kingdom.

HOW changing of funds have impacted

the NHS Over the last 25 years

Reference for picture - IFS

AS NHS, being the most leading company to bring

medical services in UK, they acquire a lot of
funding to meet their goals. The funding and
resources given to the NHS has being reduced due
to their large expenditures. The NHS is responsible
to bring medical services in the UK, by doing so,
they undergo different types of process to meet this
goal, e.g. researching, development of new
methods and equipment, discovery of new vaccines
and cures and so much more. Due to this processes
the NHS require a lot of funding which the
government are finding it hard to put up with due
too large expenditure. Since the NHS was
established in the UK in 1948, funding has
increased by an average of 3.7% per year in real
terms.(The health foundation) due to this, the
government has reduced the funding given to the
NHS, which lead NHS to be underfunded. The
period from 1980/81 to 1990/91, when NHS
spending increased by an average of 2.0% a year in
real terms, had the lowest pace of growth to date.
In the first decade, from 1949/50 to 1959/60, and
from 1975/76 to 1985/86, growth rates were
comparable.
 Reference for picture: thebmj

In the early years of the NHS, the biggest

growth rates were 5.6% from 1957/58 to 1967/68
and 5.7% from 1964/65 to 1974/75. These were
surpassed in the ten-year period from 1999/2000 to
2009/2010, when overall NHS spending in the UK
increased by an average of 6.3% annually, the
highest growth rate in that time frame. (the health
foundation). This demand for funds by the NHS is
due to the development of society and certain new
diseases and illness that occurred e.g. the COVID
19. The Department allocated money for the
Covid-19 pandemic response in its budgets for
2020–2021 and 202–2022. With these Covid-19
expenditures, the Department's budget saw a sharp
increase from 2019–2020 to 2021/22, before
declining in 2022–2023. Over the following two
years, it is anticipated to rise by an average of 1.2%
in real terms. (The kings fund). NHS over the years
has been struggling to put up with the demands in
front of them, due to underfunding. The NHS
which has a lot of members and staff are unable to
put up with the demands of the staffs, due to this
the NHS staffs has recently being undergoing
strikes(BBC). This has impacted medical services
because the more staffs strike, the reduction of
medical services giving out to the residents in the
UK. This strikes are to aim the government
attention to realises funds to NHS to continue to do
their tasks, which the government is trying to
adhere. The provision of market forces to aid
effective management to manage large amounts of
money to public services to arrange and control
funding. (Learn direct). However, they are
disadvantages to it. In summary, the NHS is
struggling to put up with the demands in fort of
them due to the underfunding of adequate
resources to aid their goals. The NHS which is the
biggest healthcare provider in the UK had to adapt
to certain development which lead to development
of new methods of establishing healthcare and
discovering of new cures and prevention of certain
illness and diseases and this is costing a large
expenditure which the government can not put up
with. Due to researches, Overall, it seems likely
that each of these issues is contributing in some
way to the decline in the amount of treatment the
NHS can provide given its current financial
situation. However, we don't even have enough
information to try to break out their respective
relevance. It is important to identify the biggest,
true underlying issues, not simply the ones that are
most obvious, in order to increase NHS
productivity in the upcoming years. The NHS's
resources can then be directed towards the changes
that will have the biggest impact.(IFS). And their
likely continue struggling due to the rapid
development of technology and society. But with
certain repercussions and ideas and establishment,
the NHS can put up with this demands to continue
to provide good and better health services in the
UK.

REFERNCES
1. BBC News (2023) ‘Lack of NHS funding
“heartbreaking”, says striking
paramedic’, BBC, 6 February. Available
at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-
england-hereford-worcester-64513819
(Accessed: 6 July 2023).

2 Devine, J. and Devine, J. (2021) ‘A system

approach to the demand crunch’, NHS
Confederation. Available at:
https://www.nhsconfed.org/publications/syst
em-approach-demand-crunch (Accessed: 5
July 2023).

3. England, N. H. S. (no date) NHS England »

Responding to new challenges and
opportunities, Nhs.uk. Available at:
https://www.england.nhs.uk/ournhspeople/o
nline-version/challenges-and-opportunities/
(Accessed: 5 July 2023).

4. Freeman, H. (1989) ‘The history of the

national health service’, The British journal of
psychiatry: the journal of mental science,
155(05), pp. 720–723. doi:
10.1192/s0007125000018407.

5. How does the NHS respond to the changing

demands placed upon it? (no date) Quora.
Available at: https://www.quora.com/How-
does-the-NHS-respond-to-the-changing-
demands-placed-upon-it (Accessed: 5 July
2023).

6. How funding for the NHS in the UK has

changed over a rolling ten year period (no
date) The Health Foundation. Available at:
https://www.health.org.uk/chart/chart-how-
funding-for-the-nhs-in-the-uk-has-changed-
over-a-rolling-ten-year-period (Accessed: 6
July 2023).

7. The NHS budget and how it has

changed (no date) The King’s Fund. Available
at:
https://www.kingsfund.org.uk/projects/nhs-
in-a-nutshell/nhs-budget (Accessed: 6 July
2023).

8. Unit 6 - history of NHS - distinction

achieved - the history of the national health
service – unit 6 (no date) Studocu. Available
at:
https://www.studocu.com/en-gb/document/o
nline-learning-college/access-to-nursing/unit-
6-history-of-nhs-distinction-achieved/
17006047 (Accessed: 4 July 2023).

9. Warner, M. and Zaranko, B. (2022) NHS

funding, resources and treatment volumes.
Institute for Fiscal Studies.