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The founding of Britain's National Health Service
In 1948 the British government carried out an ambitious shake-up of post war society, establishing the foundations of a welfare state. A cornerstone of this new vision was the creation of the National Health Service, the NHS, providing free universal health care for everyone in the UK. Olive Belfield was a young nurse and health visitor in the 1940s. She tells Witness about her memories of before and after the birth of the NHS.
Photo: Aneurin Bevan, Minister of Health, meeting a patient at Papworth Village Hospital, following the establishment of the new NHS Cedit: Getty Images
