| The National Health Service has evolved over its 60 years into a complex multi-billion-pound business, funded by a combination of taxation and direct payment. The overall NHS budget has grown by a factor of about 375 in that period. However, in real terms, the increase is approximately 16 and a half times the 1948 amount.
Meanwhile, the cost of prescriptions in England is now about seven times the original charge, introduced in 1952 (in real terms). The Welsh national assembly scrapped charges in Wales in 2007. And in Scotland the charge is being phased out by 2011. The situation in Northern Ireland is under review.
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