10 defining moments in NHS history for doctors

Early NHS event, via Wellcome Collection. (CC BY 4.0)

By Beth Roberts

As the NHS celebrates its 75th anniversary, we look back at some of the defining moments for doctors in the health service’s tumultuous history.

On 5 July 1948, in the wake of World War II, the newly elected Labour government established the National Health Service. Inspired by the 1942 Beveridge Report, which wanted to abolish the ‘Five Great Evils’ which plagued society, the NHS was designed to eradicate disease and help protect citizens “from the cradle to the grave”.¹