The NHS was started because of an ideal that good healthcare should be available to all, regardless of wealth.
When Aneurin Bevan, the health secretary, opened Park Hospital in Manchester 60 years ago, it was the climax of a hugely ambitious plan. For the first time hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, opticians and dentists were brought together under one umbrella organisation that was free for all to access at the point of delivery.
The central principles were clear: the health service would be available to all and financed entirely from taxation, which meant that every tax payer contributed to it.
See how the NHS has evolved over the last 60 years. This timeline charts the milestones, medical breakthroughs and innovations that have occurred since Bevan officially started the National Health Service on July 5 1948.
- The NHS 60 content, including this article, was written in 2008 to mark the 60th anniversary of the NHS.
This short animation from 1948 showed the public how the new NHS services would affect an ordinary family.
