Arangements -pre NHS?

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harrym1byt
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Arangements -pre NHS?

Post by harrym1byt »

I was born in St James (according to my birth certificate) some 13 month prior to the NHS becoming available in July 1948. My parents passed some years ago, so I cannot ask them, but what were the arrangements for pregnancy and birth back then? I'm guessing they must have paid in St James back then, unless there was some other arrangement..

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chemimike
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Re: Arangements -pre NHS?

Post by chemimike »

A lot of people paid into a national insurance scheme run by a number of insurance companies which provided some medical care, presumably including childbirth (though I am not sure of the details)

jma
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Re: Arangements -pre NHS?

Post by jma »

harrym1byt wrote:I was born in St James (according to my birth certificate) some 13 month prior to the NHS becoming available in July 1948. My parents passed some years ago, so I cannot ask them, but what were the arrangements for pregnancy and birth back then? I'm guessing they must have paid in St James back then, unless there was some other arrangement..
My late brother was born in St Mary's in 1947. My mother kept the receipted invoice from Leeds City Council, which included a charge for the ambulance, in one of her photograph albums. When she died in 2015 and I was sorting out her stuff, I gave it to my brother's side of the family. Remember, one of the officials in most hospitals was the almoner who helped people sort out things like this.

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tilly
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Re: Arangements -pre NHS?

Post by tilly »

We should never forget how lucky we are to have the NHS we should fight for it with every bone in our bodys.I for one would not be here if it was not for the treatment i have received over the last nine years.Lets not take it for granted its on a very rocky slope at the moment there are those in high places who would get rid of it, you know the ones i mean they can afford to go private money means more to then than people.
No matter were i end my days im an Hunslet lad with Hunslet ways.

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chemimike
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Re: Arangements -pre NHS?

Post by chemimike »

Tilly
You did not mention that some who would like it abolished have financial reasons, having invested in,or being executives of, the parasitic companies that would gain, and are already gaining from contracts with NHS

harrym1byt
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Re: Arangements -pre NHS?

Post by harrym1byt »

Apart from rare and minor injuries, I have not really needed to use the NHS until 15 months ago. My partner had been very ill for decades, making heavy use of the NHS, then passed away 40months ago. I had struggled with her for all those years of her infirmity.

I soon took on a new partner and was then able to divert my attention more to my own health 15 months ago, when I decided I ought to get myself checked out. I had always felt fine. They found I had massively high blood pressure, that I'd had a stroke years ago, had an obstructed artery in my neck and put me on lots of pills, which I have been on since.

In August I had to be rushed to hospital on B&T's due to massive internal blood loss for a one week stay in Jimmies. Having been rushed in, I was just left on a trolley in a corridor, shivering in shock and unable to get a blanket. Since when I have been waiting and waiting for an appointment to go back in for a camera down my neck, to investigate what they think is a continuing loss of blood and another appointment for a different matter. The food was for the most part inedible and I was really, really glad to get back out for some decent food.

So having paid all my life for something I have not really needed until now, I must say I am very disappointed. GP's surgery is a little better, but appointments involve long waits and contact with doctors is made not easy. My own limited take on the NHS is that it is falling apart, completely inundated with too many patients and set to get worse over the years.

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tilly
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Re: Arangements -pre NHS?

Post by tilly »

First of all chemimike my thoughts about the pharmaceutical companys i for one think not all of them are doing there best re cold cures also cancer treatment.We are talking about billions of pounds being made by some of them before anyone says anything i dont mean there all in the same boat. harrym1byt I am so sorry to hear about what you have been through i can only speak for myself.On the 12th of April 2010 i was diagnosed with bowel cancer first operation was for a stomer to be fitted next one major bowel surgery this went wrong this meant three weeks in high dependency two of which i was unconscious with a 50/50 chance of pulling through. I pulled through has you can see, next operation 30% bowel section after this i had right lung operation, then left lung operation then another right lung operation then stomer reversal.After all this i had a hip replacement in 2016, so i for one can not fault the NHS i will fight for it as long has i live, long live the NHS.
No matter were i end my days im an Hunslet lad with Hunslet ways.

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blackprince
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Re: Arangements -pre NHS?

Post by blackprince »

harrym1byt wrote:I was born in St James (according to my birth certificate) some 13 month prior to the NHS becoming available in July 1948. My parents passed some years ago, so I cannot ask them, but what were the arrangements for pregnancy and birth back then? I'm guessing they must have paid in St James back then, unless there was some other arrangement..

I was born in a private nursing home in East Leeds just 2 months before the NHS was founded.

Your post prompted me to look up medical arrangements pre-NHS online and found a couple of articles which made interesting reading.
For anyone who is interested :
https://theconversation.com/what-was-he ... -nhs-99055
https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/expe ... eation-nhs

Like me you may be surprised to learn that On the eve of the NHS, the British healthcare system was possibly the best in the world. In terms of the proportion of the public who received free treatment, the location of modern hospitals and the effectiveness of new treatments, Britain was well ahead of most other countries.

In 1900 few working-class people paid for their own medical treatments, with charity and the poor law the main routes to treatment for the poorest. Others, including many in the emerging lower middle class, struggled to afford treatment, relying on hospital casualty departments, kind doctors or folk remedies. But the National Insurance Act of 1911 changed that. It provided access to general practitioners (GPs) for manual labourers and lower paid non-manual workers earning under a certain income, together with tuberculosis care. Changes to that income limit meant that by 1936 half the adult population was included, and by 1938 19,060 doctors were included in the National Insurance “panel”.
By 1948 well over half the population could access GP and hospital services free at the point of use. Certainly big gaps remained, some filled by voluntary bodies such as the British Red Cross.
It used to be said that the statue of the Black Prince had been placed in City Square , near the station, pointing South to tell all the southerners who've just got off the train to b****r off back down south!

harrym1byt
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Re: Arangements -pre NHS?

Post by harrym1byt »

blackprince wrote: I was born in a private nursing home in East Leeds just 2 months before the NHS was founded.

Your post prompted me to look up medical arrangements pre-NHS online and found a couple of articles which made interesting reading.
For anyone who is interested :
https://theconversation.com/what-was-he ... -nhs-99055
https://www.lshtm.ac.uk/newsevents/expe ... eation-nhs]
Thanks for those links - I had already searched and found nothing to enlighten me at all.

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