Full name: Aneurin Bevin Born: 15th November 1897 Invention/Achievement: The National Health Service - medical treatment for all, free at the point of use. Date of introduction/Achievement: 1948 Died: 6th July 1960

Dr Benjamin Moore, in his book "The Dawn of the Health Age", first used the term "National Health Service".  Aneurin Bevin was the main driving force behind its establishment.

Most people in Britain have never known life without the National Health Service, but before 1948 health care generally had to be paid for.  

During World War II an Emergency Medical Service was provided to treat those injured by enemy action and voluntary hospitals given government subsidies.  In fact there was a cross party recognition that reform of the health service was going to be necessary, but disagreement on what form this should take.  

The Beveridge Report of December 1942 recommended a National Health Service, with GPs working through health centres and hospitals run by regional health authorities.  Despite the concerns of the British Medical Association, the Cabinet endorsed a White Paper of 1944 that endorsed these principles.  

When the Labour government won a landslide victory after the war, the Minister of Health Aneurin Bevin decided that local authorities were too small and too poor to manage the hospitals.  He said the only course was, "…to create an entirely new hospital service to take over the voluntary hospitals and…the local government hospitals and organise them as a single hospital service." This structure was established by the National Health Services Act of 1946 and the National Health Service was launched on 5^th July 1948.  

Although the founders of the NHS had envisaged that it would reduce in size as the nation's health improved, in fact it continued to grow in response to the vastly increased demand and in 1950 prescription charges were introduced.  

An aging population exacerbated these problems and successive government carried out major reforms in the structure and management of the service and continue to do so.  

Today, the National Health Service is widely recognized as a central benefit of life in Britain.  In 1948 its budget was £437 million (about £9 billion at today's values).  

In 2012/13 it was £127.48 billion, employing 1.6 million people, making it one of the world's largest employers.  Although many see the cost as excessive, according to the World Bank Britain spends 9.4% of its GDP on health, lower than the EU average of 10.2% and substantially lower than the OECD (i.e., industrialised countries) average of 12.4%.