National Health Service National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the name used for each of the public health services in the United Kingdom – the NHS in England, NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and the affiliated Health and Social Care (HSC) in Northern Ireland – as well as a term to describe them collectively. They were established together in 1948 as one of the major social reforms following the Second World War. The founding principles were that services should be comprehensive, universal and free at the point of delivery. Each service provides a comprehensive range of health services, free at the
Royal Commission on the National Health Service Royal Commission on the National Health Service The Royal Commission on the National Health Service was set up by the Wilson government in 1975. It was to consider the "best use and management of the financial and manpower resources of the NHS". The Royal Commission reported in June 1979, by which time the government had changed. It recommended, among other things, that the administration of the Health Service should be simplified by eliminating, in most cases, a tier of management, a recommendation which appealed to Patrick Jenkin the new Secretary of State. Area Health Authorities were abolished in 1982. The