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The National Health Service has provided Britain’s healthcare since 1948. This institution has been the subject of tense political debate since its inception and has undergone a number of complex reforms and restructures. But the meanings of the NHS are not only – or even primarily – lived out in politics. Nearly every Briton comes into contact with the NHS – from cradle to grave – and this system of healthcare shapes society, culture and everyday life. This book charts these multiple meanings, looking at the NHS as a site of work, activism and consumerism, as a space and in cultural representations. Looking in these ways, the book shows how and why the NHS has become a symbol of Britishness and an object of fierce protectiveness, even love, today.An electronic edition of this book is freely available under a Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND) licence.
Price: £30.00
Pages: 368
Publisher: Manchester University Press
Imprint: Manchester University Press
Publication Date:
07 June 2022
ISBN: 9781526163462
Format: Hardback
Introduction – Jennifer Crane and Jane HandPart I: Work1 The making of ‘NHS staff’ as a worker identity, 1948–85 – Jack Saunders2 Sick notes are a waste of time: doctors’ labour and medical certification at the birth of the NHS – Gareth MillwardPart II: Activism3 ‘Loving’ the NHS: social surveys and activist feelings – Jennifer Crane4 The everyday work of hospital campaigns: public knowledge and activism in the UK’s National Health Services – Ellen Stewart, Kathy Dodworth and Angelo ErciaPart III: Consumerism5 Consuming health? Health education and the British public in the 1980s – Alex Mold6 Customers who don’t buy anything!: the introduction of free dispensing at Boots the Chemists – Katey LoganPart IV: Space7 The cultural significance of space and place in the NHS – Angela Whitecross8 ‘Bright-while-you-wait’? Waiting rooms and the National Health Service, c. 1948–58 – Martin D. MoorePart V: Representation9 Representation of the NHS in the arts and popular culture – Mathew Thomson10 ‘If it hadn’t been for the doctor, I think I would have killed myself’: ensuring adolescent knowledge and access to healthcare in the age of Gillick – Hannah ElizabethPart VI: International11 ‘A spawning of the nether pit’? Welfare, warfare and American visions of Britain’s National Health Service, 1948–58 – Roberta BivinsEpilogue: ‘I’m afraid [,] there’s no NHS’ – Sally SheardIndex