National Health Service
The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom, comprising the National Health Service in England, NHS Scotland and NHS Wales. Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland was created separately and is often locally referred to as "the NHS".[2] The original three systems were established in 1948 (NHS Wales/GIG Cymru was founded in 1969) as part of major social reforms following the Second World War. The founding principles were that services should be comprehensive, universal and free at the point of delivery—a health service based on clinical need, not ability to pay.[3] Each service provides a comprehensive range of health services, provided without charge for people ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom apart from dental treatment and optical care.[4] In England, NHS patients have to pay prescription charges; some, such as those aged over 60, or those on certain state benefits, are exempt.[5]
"NHS" redirects here. For other uses, see NHS (disambiguation).
Taken together, the four services in 2015–16 employed around 1.6 million people with a combined budget of £136.7 billion.[6] In 2014, the total health sector workforce across the United Kingdom was 2,165,043 making it the fifth largest employer and largest non-military public organisation in the world.[7][8][9]
When purchasing consumables such as medications, the four healthcare services have significant market power that influences the global price, typically keeping prices lower.[10] A small number of products are procured jointly through contracts shared between services.[11] Several other countries either copy the United Kingdom's model or directly rely on Britain's assessments for their own decisions on state-financed drug reimbursements.[12]
Hospital beds[edit]
In 2015, the UK had 2.6 hospital beds per 1,000 people.[136] In September 2017, the King's Fund documented the number of NHS hospital beds in England as 142,000, describing this as less than 50% of the number 30 years previously.[137] In 2019 one tenth of the beds in the UK were occupied by a patient who was alcohol-dependent.[138]
NHS charity songs under various choir names have become a tradition (usually at Christmas time but not necessarily) and various formation carrying the name of NHS have released singles including:
General