Beveridge Report

The NHS began in 1948 as a result of an act of Parliament in 1946, under the guidance of Aneurin Bevan, then a Minister of the incumbent Labour Government, and in response to the Beveridge Report on The Welfare State of 1942. Most hospitals in the UK had previously been operated as non-profit making concerns. About two-thirds of them had been run by Local Authorities (the bodies also responsible for local Fire Services, Schools, Roads etc), with about one third of them run independently as Voluntary Hospitals. With the NHS act, these were all compulsorily acquired and subsequently administered by the State, and all treatments became universally available at no cost at the point of provision, the

Before 1906, when the Liberals were in power, Britain was not a welfare state. This meant that if you were in poverty you had you help yourself, ask family/neighbours/friends/charities to help instead of the government. The Governments attitude to poverty was ‘Laissez Faire’ – Leaving things alone. They said that if you were poor, it was your own fault and it was up to you to get yourself out of poverty. The Liberals wanted to fix this by introducing acts to help worker, the old and young, the unemployed and sick. The Liberal Government of 1906-1914 introduced social reform due to the survey of Booth and Rowntree to a certain extent. However factors such as National Security, National Efficiency, Political Self-interest, New Liberalism and Municipal Socialism were also all important.

The NHS came around in July 5, 1948. The Health Minister Aneurin (also known as Nye) Bevan purely nationalised the existing system across the UK. The groundbreaking change was to make all services freely available to everyone. Half of Scotland’s landmass was already covered by a state-funded health system serving the entire community and directly run from Edinburgh. Additionally, the war years had seen a state-funded hospital building programme in Scotland on a scale unknown in Europe. This was combined into the new NHS. Scotland also had its own individual medical tradition, this is centred on its medical schools rather than private practice. The legislation that empowered the UK to have the NHS is National Health Service Act (1948), this despite opposition from doctors, who maintained on the right to continue treating some patients privately. The NHS ensured that Doctors, hospital, dentists, opticians, ambulances, midwives and health visitors were available, free to everybody. This Reason why we have health services is because it developments a view that health care was a right, not something given unreliably by charity, also two-party’s agreement that the existing services were in a mess and had to be sorted out, it stopped financial difficulties for the voluntary hospitals and After the second world war it ensured the creation of an emergency medical service as part of the war effort

This essay will examine how the development of the Welfare State and the NHS changed the lives of the people of Britain since its introduction in 1948. To enable me to do so, I will analyse and evaluate the key relevant aspects that happened during that period.

Disraeli believed in an organic society held together by duty and responsibility, and was responsible for the Second Reform Act which gave the working class the vote and also improved housing conditions and hygiene. This is often seen as a form of Tory welfarism. One nationism reached its peak in the 1950s and 1960s when conservative governments in the UK promoted social welfare, in stark contrast to later, New Right conservative governments such as the Thatcher Government (1979-90). In the 50s one-nation conservatism was seen as a ‘middle way’ between ‘laissez-faire’ liberalism and socialist state planning. Therefore, paternalistic conservatism could be seen as the way of moderation.

William Beveridge was part of the war time government, after world war two he was tasked with the job of putting in place a framework for the welfare state. The aim of the report was to find out what Britain needed to take care of the basic needs of all the people and to begin to put in place a set of reforms to give every citizen of Britain a basic standard of living. Published in 1942 the Report proposed a new social security system that would provide benefits ‘from the cradle to the grave’ this would include in ideally a system of proper healthcare, sickness and unemployment benefits, family allowance and an employment policy. As well as this, the report would outline how best to tackle the five giant evils, Beveridge believed that these issues were what was standing in the way of social progress for post-war Britain. Citizens were more open to government intervention in relation to social welfare due to their increased involvement for the duration of the war, individuals became accustomed to higher taxation to help cover medical costs and services for people who had been injured by bombing and air raids. This example of free health care paved the way for creation to the NHS and made individuals more aware of the benefits of free health care. Also, due to the mixing of social classes during the second world war on the battle field and on the home front, as well as shared experiences under a common enemy many British people

Later, findings from a series of reports including report from Royal commission on National Health Insurance in 1926; The Sankey Commission on Voluntary Hospitals in 1937; and reports from British Medical Association (BMA) in 1930 and 1938, all collectively indicated that inadequacy existed in the pattern of the services (Christopher, 2004; Webster, 2002). Evident were reports of conflicting care and duplication of work between the municipal and voluntary hospitals (Wheeler & Grice, 2000). Additionally, world war had a huge impact on the health services and the conditions in which hospitals, theatres, radiology and pathology department operated was very poor. Thus, no machinery existed that supported running of a coordinated healthcare system, hence a need for unified, simplified and cohesive system was felt (Smith, 2007). Furthermore, Royal Commission’s report suggested that funding for the health services might benefit from general taxation rather than its basis on insurance principle (Christopher, 2004). However, it was not until the Beveridge report in 1942, which provided a huge drive and momentum for a movement of change in the health services. And within subsequent years seen were the proposals for NHS drawn through the White Paper in 1944, then in 1946 the National Health Service Act and at last in 1948 the establishment of the NHS

Before the National Health Service (NHS) came into force in 1948, there was the Poor Law which was introduced in 1601 and was paid for by imposing property taxes. In 1834 the Poor Law Amendment Act was brought in and was designed to reduce the cost of looking after the poor, and to encourage poor people to work. In 1942 Sir William Beveridge unveiled the Welfare Foundations, the plan offered care to all from birth through to death. The NHS was established as a result of the 1944 White Paper. The 1946 NHS Act came into effect on the 5th July 1948, and was founded by Health Secretary Aneurin Bevan. 1962 saw the publication of the Porritt Report, which raised concerns about the NHS being separated into three parts – hospitals, general practices and local health authorities. Enoch Powell’s 1962 Hospital Plan approves the development of district general

The ideological and social factors concerning the creation of the NHS were part of a post war aspiration as World War II had created a need for needs and recognition of more social needs such as mental health and long term rehabilitation.

The National Health Service was founded on the 5th July 1948. Winston Churchill was the prime minister at the time .The government decided to commission a report, addressing the ways in which Britain should be rebuilt after the Second World War had ended. The Beveridge report of 1942 (written by William Beveridge) identified five main points that needed to be addressed. These were Want (addressed poverty) disease (the lack of healthcare) ignorance (no education) squalor (represented the lack of housing) and idleness (unemployment). A Lot of politicians were confident that Winston Churchill would lead the conservatives to success in the general election. However this was not the case, clement Attlee of the labour party introduced all the

This was because the public health white paper, choosing health: making healthy choices easier, (2004) was introduced as the awareness of health was growing in size which forced the government to bring about the public health white paper. This document promoted societal fairness, dealing with broad causes of ill-health, inequality in the society as well as identifying individuals needs to support and empower them. In the 21th century, people are more informed; technology and science have improved, making better medical system more efficient and effective with more improved living conditions, compared to the two previous centuries.

William Beveridge was a man whom was asked by government to write a report on the best and most effective ways to help those on low incomes. This was after the Second World War when people felt they needed rewarding, which the government responded to by promising to create a more equal society. In Beveridge’s report in December 1942, he proposed that all people of a working age should contribute, which would benefit people who were sick, unemployed, retired, or widowed.

It is plain to see from the policies above that a comprehensive welfare system offering benefits on a universal level was created from the report written by William Beveridge. However, it was still subject to criticism. These miscalculations and misjudgements meant the elderly, the disabled and the long term unemployed still experienced poverty because the level of benefits were too low. (Fraser 2003) Beveridge’s vision was to have to little or no means-tested benefits, his idea was that very few people would fall into this category and it would only be used as a safety net. That was not the case, more and more people, mainly those on low incomes had to turn to means- tested National Assistance benefit. Beveridge did not fulfil his vision in this part of his plan. (Timmins 1996)

Welfare was created as an amendment to the social security act of 1935 in 1939. Before this many things were being implemented already as a form of welfare. Such as Medicaid, food stamps, and SSI (Supplement Security Income). During this time was the great depression which extremely affected the American economy, causing thousands of people to become unemployed. These established many of the programs that built the way welfare is shaped today such as the AFDC (Aid to Families with Independent Children). Due to these being created there had to organizations and agencies to supervise

1936 – Social insurance was established with the enactment of Commonwealth Act no. 186 which created the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) which started operations in 1937. The Act covers gov’t employees.