History of the National Health Service

nhshistory.net

nhshistory.com

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National Health Service History

. From Cradle to Grave - the first 60 years of the NHS

PLEASE NOTE MIRROR SERVERS IN CASE OF SERVER FAILURE. THIS SITE CAN BE ACCESSED AT www.nhshistory.com. net. org.uk, co.uk and info

The book

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This material is the most substantial, perhaps the only, account of the first 60 years of the NHS. I deal with what has happened, rather than what people and politicians plan, hope or think will happen. I do not cover the reasons for the creation of the NHS, but what happened from 1948 and why - my first book on the London Hospital System covers the background to its creation better. Because devolution has created major differences between the health services in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, the latter three countries are not specifically considered; I have less knowledge of their systems.

This site is frequently updated and is used as a teaching resource by degree programmes in health sciences It is archived by the British Library. The web version covers the 60 years of the NHS, the published version the first 50 years. Now 10 years old, the book is harder to obtain, but try booksellers ISBN 1 85717 148 9 or your library. You are encouraged to buy it or borrow it from your library - but virtually the whole text is on line.

If you want your own, permanent, copy of the current site as a CD Rom I should be able to provide one for £12. This would avoid the possibility of losing access to it in the future. email me if you are interested. The CD Rom includes my first book on the London Hospital System, now out of print.

Recent additions include

Site contents

Geoffrey Rivett's first book

CMO's report on revalidation
Lord Darzi's Final Report
Superb analysis of problems by Rudolf Klein in the Envoi
Department's vision for primary care
Quality Care Commission consultation

the inheritance of the NHS in 1948 and the events from 1948 to 2008 by decade
a summary of the past decades (re-written)

a simple guide to the NHS and a link to 1948 film about the service and a link to BBC Archives on the NHS

an Envoi rewritten from the original published version

a list of CMOs and financial information,
earlier (for the UK) and later (for England) periods

The Development of the London Hospital System 1823-1982. Now out of print, this book deals with the development of hospitals in London, and also the steps in the establishment of the NHS (from a London perspective). It is now a sub-web of this site

book cover

References: From Cradle to Grave (the book and the chapters up to 1998) is well referenced in the conventional way. The development of Internet has altered and continues to change referencing. Sometimes I use hyperlinks to documents on my server, or to journals and official publications. "Access controls" may operate. The advent of continuous publishing, as in the case of the BMJ, is significant because the key source is now the web, not a paper edition. For official documents My Click use licence from OPSI is number C2008001265 Sources used include the BMJ, Health Service Journal, Health Affairs, the Department of Health and The Times. I acknowledge my debt to these sources, to those writing on health care and the NHS, and to those who have spoken to me about NHS and clinical developments.

Geoffrey Rivett asserts intellectual ownership/copyright over this material. However, you are at liberty to download the text for personal use, but not for commercial reproduction in another publication or web site, or for multiple copying for academic or business purposes. You may use material from this site referencing where practicable.
Declaration of interest: I create, design and manage this site. It receives no financial support from any quarter, and I am retired and neither in employment nor act in any consultant capacity. I wish to improve the interest, content and usability of the site. I would welcome feedback.

You may also be interested in
Health service history in Scotland

and Education in England by Derek Gillard, providing online access to major documents in the development of the educational system

Michael Warren's website on social services chronologically, which used to be linked from this page, has been taken down at the suggestion of the Faculty of Public Health that holds the copyright to his material.

History of the National Health Service