A Socialist History of the NHS: The economic and social forces that have shaped the National Health Service

According to US historian Almont Lindsay "the British National Health Service must be regarded as one of the great achievements of the twentieth century". The National Health Service (NHS) was not the creation of a few "great men" but was created through intense struggle. The real creators of the NHS were tens of thousands of unsung working class activists. This book attempts to explain its origins, taking the reader from ancient times up to and beyond the election of the New Labour government in 1997 and outlines some of the crucial issues facing the NHS today. The story of the creation of the NHS holds rich lessons now that the whole basis of the service is under constant attack. This book should be of interest to anyone who works in the NHS, or who has an interest in the development of health care systems anywhere in the world. It will also be of particular interest to those who are campaigning on a daily basis to defend and extend the NHS.