Labour Reforms - The Welfare State 1945-1951Reforms to address disease

National Health Service Act 1946

The successes of this were:

• the National Health Service (NHS) was established in 1948 and provided free access to doctors, dentists, opticians and hospitals
• doctors, dentists and opticians were flooded with patients queuing up for treatment that they had previously been unable to afford

The limitations of this were:

• by 1950 the NHS was costing £358 million per year
• the Government had to backtrack on its principle of a free service, by introducing charges for spectacles and dental treatment