On 5 July 1948 the Labour Party health minister, Aneurin Bevan, launched the National Health Service at Park Hospital, Manchester. For many years prior to its creation, many people had dreamed of a comprehensive healthcare service that was free to all citizens, irrespective of their means.
The recruitment of men to serve in the 1914–18 war had revealed the shocking physical state of those from the poorer areas of Britain. Poor people also suffered terrible hardships during the depression of the 1930s, when the life expectancy of adults was low and mortality rates for infants and children were high.
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