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HistoryExtra podcast

The NHS: a brief history

HistoryExtra podcast

HistoryExtra

History

4.34.7K Ratings

🗓️ 22 January 2021

⏱️ 40 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Historian Susan Cohen discusses how Britain’s National Health Service has changed over the decades since its landmark creation in 1948. She explores the challenges of providing ‘cradle-to-grave care’ for all Britons, and discusses some of the biggest issues that the service has faced, including discrimination in the ranks, AIDS and Covid-19. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:46.5

Hello and welcome to the History Extra podcast from BBC History Magazine, Britain's bestselling history magazine.

0:59.2

I'm Ellie Cawthorne. Recent months have been some of the toughest ever for the NHS.

1:07.2

Since its creation in 1948, Britain's National Health Service has undergone massive challenges and changes.

1:13.7

And its history is a fascinating one. For today's podcast, sub-editor Riannon Davies spoke to the historian Susan Cohen, whose latest book traces the history of the NHS,

1:19.7

to find out more about the service over the decades from the perspective of both healthcare workers

1:25.2

and patients. So, to kick things off, what was health

1:30.5

like in England before the NHS in terms of both the health of its people and the healthcare

1:35.8

that was on offer to them? Okay, so if we look at the state of the nation from about 1900s

1:42.3

onwards pre-Second World War,

1:47.4

the diseases you would associate with poverty,

1:50.4

poor living conditions and overcrowding were normal.

...

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