Stunning black and white images reveal the early days of the NHS – when nurses had time, bed blocking was no issue and a winter crisis was all about the weather
As the NHS faces one of its most challenging times, we go back in time to what it looked like when it was first established
ANDREA DOWNEY
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THE NHS has provided free healthcare for millions of Brits for almost 70-years.
Launched in 1948 at Park Hospital in Manchester by then health secretary Aneurin Bevan, it was an ambitious plan to bring good healthcare to everyone.
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Miners and steelworkers in Tredegar pay the Workmen's Medical Aid Society twopence out of every pound they earn to go towards their medical, dental and optical services. A nurse bending over a small boy to see to his injuriesCredit: Getty Images
For the first time in the country's history, hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, opticians and dentists were brought together under one umbrella organisation to provide services that were free for all at the point of delivery.
Over the years the NHS has provided millions of people with the healthcare they needed, but in recent years funding pressures and a growing demand for beds has taken its toll on the service.
This January the NHS has faced one of the worst winter crises in its history, with overwhelmed casualty units failing to meet key performance targets and turning ambulances away.
The British Red Cross called for action over what it calls a "humanitarian crisis" as more than half of NHS trusts declared major alerts in the first week on January.
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As the NHS faces one of its most challenging times, we go back in time to what it looked like when it was first established.
Young children at a Bristol health centre using sun lamps, often used to treat skin conditions. They must wear special glasses to protect their eyesCredit: Getty Images
A patient with a chest specialist at a Bristol health centre as they inspect a chest x-ray of their lungsCredit: Getty Images
A newborn baby being weighed at a Bristol clinic in July 1948Credit: Getty Images
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A doctor using a stethoscope to listen to a man's breathing and lungs at an NHS GP clinicCredit: Getty Images
Two girls at a Bristol health centre's orthopaedic department being treated by a nurse. The girl on the right is having a faradiac current bath for flat feet and the other girl has a sinusoidal footbath - also for flat feetCredit: Getty Images
THE new NHS allowed for a nurse to visit a mother for two weeks to help her care for her new born babyCredit: Getty Images
A dentist at a Bristol health centre surgery examines one of his young patient. At the time this service was for schoolchildren and expectant mothersCredit: Getty Images
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In October 1952, the Woodberry Down Health Centre in Stoke Newington opens for treatment. Woodberry Down is the first fully comprehensive health centre to be built under the National Health Service Act.Credit: Getty Images
1951: The National Health Service at work in Portsmouth, here a lady tries out her new glasses as eighteen million pairs have been supplied on the NHSCredit: Getty Images
A dentist at a Bristol health centre surgery tends to a young boy with his assistantsCredit: Getty Images
Mothers and their babies at the newly opened Woodberry Down Health Centre in Stoke NewingtonCredit: Getty Images
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A National Health Service clinic in Bristol showing the x-ray machinery at work in 1948Credit: Getty Images
Disabled people and new mothers were given help at home for free under the newly launched NHSCredit: Getty Images
A chiropodist is pictured examining a young girls foot at a Bristol health centre. She has been sent there by the school medical officerCredit: Getty Images
An optician working at a Bristol clinic with a young woman having a eye test.Credit: Getty Images
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Children, mothers and nurses at a Bristol clinic where regular health checks were carried outCredit: Getty Images
Ante-natal classes at a Bristol health centre in 1948, where mothers can get instruction from a nurseCredit: Getty Images
Welsh Labour politician Aneurin Bevan with a group of nurses on the day that the National Health Service came into beingCredit: Getty Images
Aneurin Bevan, the Minister of Health, meeting a patient at Papworth Village Hospital. This centre for tubercular cases was taken over by the National Health Service on July 5, 1949Credit: Getty Images
An elderly woman being tended to at home by a nurse, a service offered free of charge on the NHSCredit: Getty Images
Health Minister Aneurin Bevan inspects health cards during a visit to Insurance House in Holborn, to check the progress of the new NHS. As many as 40,000 new applications were dealt with every day by the clerksCredit: Getty Images
Princess Elizabeth, later Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, at the 'Health of People' exhibition at Marble Arch Pavilion. Next to her is the Welsh Labour politician and founder of the National Health Service, Aneurin BevanCredit: Getty Images
A Twelftree, chief clerk BMA; Dr J Revans, assistant secretary; a representative from Price Waterhouse; and G Perkins at BMA House, London, during the sorting of ballot papers in the British Medical Association's 2nd plebiscite to ascertain doctors' views on joining the National Health Service schemeCredit: Getty Images
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A nurse helping young people at a new NHS centre in BristolCredit: Getty Images
Senior medics during the sorting of ballot papers in the British Medical Association's plebiscite to ascertain doctors' views on joining the National Health Service schemeCredit: Getty Images
A health worker visits the house of a mother and her children as part of the NHSCredit: Getty Images
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