65 Years of Anaesthesia in the NHS: Anaesthesia, Art and Science

The introduction of the National Health Service on 5 July 1948, introduced major changes in both the way doctors worked and how healthcare was delivered to patients. At the beginning of our film, Dr John Sprigge tells us about the bill his parents received for his mother’s hospital stay from the date of his birth until 4 July 1948. The remainder of the stay was covered by the NHS. As the National Health Service marks its 65th Anniversary, in many ways so does the specialty of anaesthesia. Anaesthetics were being given as early as the 1840s, but they were generally administered by General Practitioners as a sideline. Dr Aileen K Adams and Dr Tom Boulton discuss the impact of the creation of the NHS on anaesthesia. The NHS agreed to give anaesthetists pay and status equal to other hospital doctors, provided that a Faculty of Anaesthetists was developed. This decision, in essence, created the specialty of anaesthesia, as it greatly increased the number of people who were giving anaesthetics as a full time job. Many of these people had been involved in giving anaesthetics during the war and were encouraged to continue doing so because of the equal status given to anaesthetists following the creation of the NHS. For more information on the creation of the Faculty of Anaesthetists, how it developed into a College and subsequently a Royal College, please go to: http://www.rcoa.ac.uk/about-the-colle.... © The Royal College of Anaesthetists