Available online
Description
The People’s History of the NHS is a three-part series presented by Alex Brooker for BBC FOUR, which tells the story of the NHS through the voices of the people whose lives it has affected, from ...its birth in 1948 to the present day. In each episode, patients and staff from all over the country dig out and share their treasured mementoes to tell deeply personal stories that chart the highs and lows of the National Health Service’s 70-year history. Programme One covers the first quarter century of the service and unveils a whole host of unique artefacts. We’ll see the graduation certificate of a doctor who only qualified on the NHS’s first day and yet was thrown straight into surgery…one of the last remaining roadworthy Invacars, a specialist vehicle adapted for disabled drivers that was handed out for free in the 60s…and even a tiny booklet listing a family’s expenditure on doctor’s fees, a stark reminder of life before the Health Service when every GP visit came with a charge. Patients and staff tell their experiences of how the NHS was not immune from the prejudices of 1960s Britain. Actress Joan Hooley shares a copy of her first performance in the ITV drama Emergency Ward 10, where her role as a hospital doctor - who happened to be both a woman and black - sent shockwaves through society. We discover how a simple pair of earrings transports their owner back to a time in which draconian attitudes towards sex nearly cost her her life. And we see how an ornate ginger jar, and the mysterious death of its owner, exposed a British class system that allowed some GPs to operate with alarmingly little oversight. But despite an ever more fractured society, a medical revolution was happening and as the decades progressed, it was clear free access to medical care was dramatically improving the health of the nation. A leading orthopaedic surgeon reveals the ground-breaking device invented by an NHS doctor in the 50s which revolutionised hip replacement surgery, whilst the daughter of a GP unfurls an incredible scroll of records of every case of childhood disease he treated, fascinating primary evidence of the extraordinary impact of the nation’s first NHS funded vaccine campaign. Inspired by the remarkable objects still in their possession, this is the story of the ordinary people who make up an extraordinary service.
The People’s History of the NHS is a three-part series presented by Alex Brooker for BBC FOUR, which tells the story of the NHS through the voices of the people whose lives it has affected, from ...its birth in 1948 to the present day. In each episode, patients and staff from all over the country dig out and share their treasured mementoes to tell deeply personal stories that chart the highs and lows of the National Health Service’s 70-year history. Programme One covers the first quarter century of the service and unveils a whole host of unique artefacts. We’ll see the graduation certificate of a doctor who only qualified on the NHS’s first day and yet was thrown straight into surgery…one of the last remaining roadworthy Invacars, a specialist vehicle adapted for disabled drivers that was handed out for free in the 60s…and even a tiny booklet listing a family’s expenditure on doctor’s fees, a stark reminder of life before the Health Service when every GP visit came with a charge. Patients and staff tell their experiences of how the NHS was not immune from the prejudices of 1960s Britain. Actress Joan Hooley shares a copy of her first performance in the ITV drama Emergency Ward 10, where her role as a hospital doctor - who happened to be both a woman and black - sent shockwaves through society. We discover how a simple pair of earrings transports their owner back to a time in which draconian attitudes towards sex nearly cost her her life. And we see how an ornate ginger jar, and the mysterious death of its owner, exposed a British class system that allowed some GPs to operate with alarmingly little oversight. But despite an ever more fractured society, a medical revolution was happening and as the decades progressed, it was clear free access to medical care was dramatically improving the health of the nation. A leading orthopaedic surgeon reveals the ground-breaking device invented by an NHS doctor in the 50s which revolutionised hip replacement surgery, whilst the daughter of a GP unfurls an incredible scroll of records of every case of childhood disease he treated, fascinating primary evidence of the extraordinary impact of the nation’s first NHS funded vaccine campaign. Inspired by the remarkable objects still in their possession, this is the story of the ordinary people who make up an extraordinary service.
| Series: | The NHS: A People's History; Series 1 |
|---|---|
| Episode | 1 |
| First transmission date: | 03-07-2018 |
| Original broadcast channel: | BBC 4 |
| Published: | 2018 |
| Rights Statement: | Rights owned or controlled by The Open University |
| Restrictions on use: | This material can be used in accordance with The Open University conditions of use. A link to the conditions can be found at the bottom of all OUDA web pages. |
| Duration: | 00:59:09 |
| + Show more... | |
| Director: | Ben Ryder |
| Producers: | 7 Wonder Productions; Zoe Jewell; Eve Kay |
| Contributors: | Alex Brooker; Alan Bennett; Simon Bostic; Winnie Dickens; Mary Hazard; Joan Hooley; Serena Macbeth; John Marks; Simon Mckeown; John Pauffley; Judi Piper-Dadswell; Margaret Francis Prestwich; Bobo Purbach; June Rosen; Ann Rossiter; June Hautt |
| Link to related site: | : https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b0b98x61 |
| Production number: | FKID552R |
| Videofinder number: | 230905 |
| Available to public: | no |
