The National Health Service has provided Britain's healthcare since 1948. This institution has been the subject of tense political debate since its inception and has undergone a number of complex reforms and restructures. But the meanings of the NHS are not only - or even primarily - lived out in politics. Nearly every Briton comes into contact with the NHS - from cradle to grave - and this system of healthcare shapes society, culture and everyday life. This book charts these multiple meanings, looking at the NHS as a site of work, activism and consumerism, as a space and in cultural representations. Looking in these ways, the book shows how and why the NHS has become a symbol of Britishness and an object of fierce protectiveness, even love, today.
| ISBN: | 9781526163462 |
| Publication date: | 7th June 2022 |
| Author: | Jennifer Crane, Jane Hand |
| Publisher: | Manchester University Press an imprint of Wellcome Trust |
| Format: | Hardback |
| Pagination: | 336 pages |
| Series: | Social Histories of Medicine |
| Genres: |
History of medicine European history: medieval period, middle ages Social and cultural history |