History of NHS Scotland

File:Your Health Service - How it will work in Scotland, 1948.jpg

Prior to the creation of Scotland's NHS in 1948, the state was involved with the provision of healthcare, though it was not universal. Half of Scotland's landmass was already covered by the Highlands and Islands Medical Service, a state-funded health system run directly from Edinburgh, which had been set up 35 years earlier. In addition, there had been a substantial state-funded hospital building programme during the war years. Scotland also had its own distinctive medical tradition, centred on its medical schools rather than private practice, and a detailed plan for the future of health provision based on the Cathcart report.{{cite web |url=http://www.ournhsscotland.com/history/birth-nhsscotland |title=Birth of NHS Scotland: What made Scotland different?|publisher=Our NHS Scotland |accessdate=20 July 2014}}

Facilities were built during the Second World War that took hospital capacity to 30,000 beds.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=wEdAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=koUMAAAAIBAJ&pg=1644%2C4743624|title=Scottish Medical Service in Wartime. Emergency Facilities now Permanent |work=Glasgow Herald |date=9 July 1953 |page=9 |accessdate=5 November 2016}}

By June 1947, there were 112 centres that were part of the St Andrews and Red Cross service.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=PmhAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=j5QMAAAAIBAJ&pg=2657%2C3399354 |title=Ambulance service in Scotland. Extension of Activities |work=Glasgow Herald |date=26 June 1947 |page=6 |accessdate=5 November 2016}}

The 1947 Act provided a uniform national structure for services which had previously been provided by a combination of the Highlands and Islands Medical Service, local government, charities and private organisations which in general was only free for emergency use. The new system was funded from central taxation and did not generally involve a charge at the time of use for services concerned with existing medical conditions or vaccinations carried out as a matter of general public health requirements.

The Scottish NHS was formed on 5 July 1948.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=JmpAAAAAIBAJ&sjid=hJgMAAAAIBAJ&pg=3821%2C3368487 |title=New Health Service Begins Today. 400 Hospitals Taken Over in Scotland |work=The Glasgow Herald |date=5 July 1948 |page=2 |accessdate=23 November 2016}}

The NHS (Amendment) Act 1949 was passed by a Labour government and allowed a prescription charge to be collected, although these fees were first introduced by a Conservative government in 1952. However, prescription charges in Scotland were abolished by the Scottish Government on 1 April 2011, leaving England as the only country in the UK in which such charges still exist.

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In 1962 a £70{{nbsp}}million programme of hospital modernisation was announced.{{cite news |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=Cn5AAAAAIBAJ&sjid=s6MMAAAAIBAJ&pg=5452%2C3201676 |title=£70m. Hospitals Scheme for Scotland. Start of New Stage in Modernisation |work=Glasgow Herald |date=24 January 1962 |page=10 |accessdate=5 November 2016}}

• History of Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland
• History of NHS Wales
• History of the National Health Service (England)

{{reflist}}

• [http://www.scot.nhs.uk/ NHS Scotland]
• [http://www.ournhsscotland.com 65 years of the NHS in Scotland]

{{Health in Scotland}}

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NHS Scotland

Category:NHS Scotland

Category:Scottish Government