Why was the NHS setup in 1948?
The NHS was setup on July the 5th 1948 by the Department of Health which is now the largest health organisation in Europe.
It provides free healthcare for all UK citizens including hospitals, ambulances, specialists, physiotherapists and dentists.
There are two types of health authorities such as special health authorities such as the national blood service. These authorities are independent and offer healthcare for the whole of the UK.
The strategic health authorities develop strategic plans such as the NHS, which provides primary and secondary care for the UK.

There are fourteen regional hospital boards. The NHS is split into five parts.

• Hospital services
• Family doctors (GPs)
• Dentists
• Opticians and Pharmacists
• Community nurses and health visitors

The Beverage Report
William Beverage was born on the 5th of March 1879 in Bengal, India. The Beverage report sets down measures to reform the economic situations after World War 2.

Beverage's reports gives plans and practices which suggest that the British citizen is being taken care of by the government from cradle to grave became the national policy.

During World War 1, Beverage was involved in mobilising and controlling man power. In 1941, the government commissioned a report into the ways that Britain should be rebuilt after World War 2. Beverage was an obvious choice to take charge.

Beverage recommended that the government should find ways of fighting the five giant evils of want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness.

The Acheson Report
The Acheson report calls of an increase in benefit levels for women of bearing age, expectant mothers, young children and older people.
Poverty has a disproportionate effect on children. In thee mid 1990's, around a quarter of people in the UK were living below the poverty level.
It is said that benefits underestimate the cost of providing a basic standard of living for single parents. As a result sometimes mothers are forced to go without food.

Education is another area of health inequality. The report calls for more funding for schools in deprived areas, better nutrition at school and health promoting schools. This is to encourage children to eat more fruits than having vending machines on the premises.

It says children who achieve less at school are likely to go on and get badly paid jobs or be unemployed.



^^ Stechford, Birmingham, United Kingdom ^^
Note that that is what is known as relative poverty as what is poverty in one country, may not be poverty in another.

Healthier Nation 1999
The Healthier Nation 1999 report is commonly known as The White Paper.
It is the government's 1999 plan for tackling health problems in the UK, improving the population's health, and saving lives.

The paper is made up of three sections, Our Healthier Nation, Saving Lives and Making It Work.

• Our Healthier Nation
  This section looks at new ways to save lives and aims to advance national public health. It also sets to put plans for preventing the causes of illnesses

• Saving Lives
  This section deals with specific illnesses such as sexual health, drug and alcohol problems, genetic illnesses, cancer, heart disease, strokes, and mental health. It also discusses the improvement of the health within ethnic minorities.

• Making It Work
  This section discusses new standards of health and how successful they are likely to be.

Overall the paper contains a new list of health practitioners, new treatments and services available to the British Public. Graphs and statistics are also included throughout the report.

If you want to, you can read the whole document on the internet for free.