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1. The establishment of the NHS and the Welfare State were wartime coalition policies, for the end of hostilities, agreed across parties
2. The NHS concept was put on the nation& #39;s agenda by William Beveridge (then a civil servant but later a Lib MP) December 1942 http://j.mp/1E9i6nN ">https://j.mp/1E9i6nN&q... and the practicalities worked out by Henry Willink (C) and published in a white paper March 1944 http://j.mp/1zuQgRI ">https://j.mp/1zuQgRI&q... |
3. Winston Churchill & #39;From the Cradle to the Grave& #39; broadcast 21 Mar 1943 http://www.ibiblio.org/pha/policy/1943/1943-03-21a.html">https://www.ibiblio.org/pha/polic... & Royal College of Physicians luncheon 2 Mar 1944 (The Times 3 Mar)
4. Clement Attlee July 1948: "In the building up of the great structure of our social services all parties.. ..have borne their part" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9rqyzWzDONQ">https://www.youtube.com/watch... |
5. NHS would have been established whichever party was in power, whoever was Minister of Health / Secretary of State for Scotland after the war. (Scottish NHS always separate)
6. Jim Griffiths& #39;s 1946 National Insurance Act (pensions & benefits) closely based on 1944 coalition white paper, passed without division. (Family Allowances Act passed during 1945 caretaker Conservative government.)
7. Conservatives opposed nationalisation of hospitals, as did Herbert Morrison (in cabinet). Only the BMA opposed the principle of the NHS. By 1954 Bevan had realised his mistake and wrote of returning hospitals to local government https://www.sochealth.co.uk/national-health-service/the-sma-and-the-foundation-of-the-national-health-service-dr-leslie-hilliard-1980/aneurin-bevan-and-the-foundation-of-the-nhs/local-government-management-of-the-hospitals-12-march-1954/">https://www.sochealth.co.uk/national-... |
8. Nationalisation was a disaster. Hospitals whether local gov or voluntary (charitable foundations) had been built by local fundraising and endowments, all of which stopped. Bevan failed to provide any alternative funding mechanism = no new hospitals until 1960s
