In September, the History of Parliament celebrated our latest publication with St James’s House to commemorate 75 years of the NHS at Westminster Abbey. Paul Seaward, Director of the History of Parliament, discusses the contents of the book and how to access it for free.
We’re delighted to say that our latest publication with St James’s House is now freely available online. Hardback and paperback versions can be obtained as well. The book is our contribution to the celebrations of the 75th anniversary of the National Health Service in July 1948. Weaving together the medical and the political stories of the development of the United Kingdom’s system of healthcare, it begins with the early history of health provision, from its origins in mostly religious communities to its increasing prominence as a major question of public policy in the nineteenth century. Two chapters chart the growth of the idea of a National Health Service in the early Twentieth Century, up to the refining of those plans in the Second World War and its immediate aftermath. Two chapters cover its sometimes chequered history since 1948, as the growth in demand and advances in what was technologically possible constantly stretched the capacity of the state to fund it. A final chapter looks at some big recent themes and recent challenges faced by the NHS, and how the Service has become so prominent a feature of British national identity
Throughout, the book focuses on the politics of the NHS: the politicians whose decisions laid its foundations and brought it into existence, and the politicians who were faced with running it once it was in operation, trying to match demand and resources and struggling with the complex business of planning multi-level healthcare for an entire nation. The book draws on, among other things, the interviews with parliamentarians conducted for the History of Parliament’s Oral History Project, with stories of local and national campaigns, for saving hospitals, exposing scandals, securing – and opposing – abortion. But the book also draws in other stories from the work done by our friends at Manchester University in creating the Voices of Our National Health Service, a collection of oral history interviews with a huge variety of people involved in the NHS, as practitioners of all kinds, managers, and patients. Their work has provided the other side of the coin: the NHS as perhaps the most familiar part of the state, one which millions interact with every day.
The text is written by a team of specialist historians who have written widely on medicine and healthcare and the history of the NHS: Agnes Arnold-Foster, Michael Brown, Jennifer Crane, Ed Devane, Michael Lambert, peter Mitchell, Emma Peplow, Andrew Seaton, Stephanie Snow and Angela Whitecross. You can access a free digital version of the book, which also includes articles by businesses and other organisations involved in healthcare provision, by clicking here.
The book is also available in a hardback version from St James’s House. A paperback version containing only the historical chapters, is available direct from The History of Parliament.
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