July 5th, 1948 - The NHS was born, providing a safety net for all with free-at-the-point-delivery medical care.
1952 - A charge of 1 shilling (5p) introduced for prescriptions and £1 for dental (an indication that the budgets were being stretched)
1953 - DNA structure revealed 1954 - Smoking and cancer link established
1954 - Daily hospital visits for children introduced, previously they were only allowed an hour on Saturday and Sundays.
1958 - Polio and Diphtheria vaccination programmes were launched
30th October, 1960 - First UK kidney transplant
1961 - Contraceptive pill made widely available
1962 - First full hip replacement
3rd May, 1968 - Britain’s first heart transplant
1972 - CT scans revolutionised body examination
1979 - First bone marrow transplant
1980 - MRI scans introduced
1980 - Keyhole surgery used to remove a gall bladder
23rd Jan, 1984 - Youngest liver transplant carried out on a two-year-old
1987 - The first heart and liver transplant From the original concept of providing a safety net, you can see how demands on the NHS have become stretched over the years.
1901 - The birth of the WPA, which was a child of the trade unions in Bristol to provide a cash fund to pay for medical treatment for their members.
Contrary to popular belief, WPA does not replace the NHS but works along side it, providing people with the option to choose the time and place for their treatment, thus relieving pressure on the NHS waiting lists.
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