Medicine in modern Britain

Edexcel GCSE History Paper 1 Unit 4

1911

National Insurance Bill introduced

1914-1918

World War I

1928

Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin

1938

Florey and Chain develop the use of penicillin

1948

The NHS is set up

1953

Crick and Watson discover the structure of DNA

penicillin

The first antibiotic drug produced to treat infection

antibiotic

A drug made from bacteria that kills other bacteria and so cures an infection or disease

Alexander Fleming

The scientist who discovered penicillin

Howard Florey and Ernst Chain

Studied penicillin and persuaded pharmaceutical companies and the US government to produce it on a mass scale

genetics

the study of inherited characteristics

DNA

the fundamental and distinctive characteristics of each person and the carrier of genetic information

chromosome

carries genetic information in the form of genes

hereditary conditions

conditions or illnesses that can be passed from parents to children in genes

1953

Rosalind Franklin and Maurice Watkins identified, photographed, and named the substance that carried genetic information from parent to child. It was named DNA.

1953

Crick and Watson discovered the double helix shape of DNA and began finding the parts of DNA which carry hereditary diseases.

1990

The Human Genome Project is set up by James Watson. Thousands of scientists worked until 2003 to map the human genome, identifying DNA from every part of the body.

magic bullet

a chemical which targets specific germs that caused disease, whilst leaving the rest of the body unharmed.

Paul Erhlich

In the late 1800s, he experimented with arsenic compounds to find a cure for syphilis

1909

A scientist named Hata discovered that compound 606 cured syphilis. It was named Salvarsan 606 and became the first magic bullet.

The Beveridge Report 1942

William Beveridge published a report about living conditions and how to improve public life. The report was highly influential, especially in the setting up of the NHS.

Aneurin Bevan

The government’s Minister for Health, credited with the setting up of the NHS.

The impact of the NHS on women

• Drastically reduced the number of women dying during childbirth

• Provided a range of services relating to pregnancy/childcare including midwives, vaccinations and female health visitors.

• In 1870 the life expectancy for women was 45, but by 1970 it was 76.

The impact of the NHS on children

• funded Health Education in all schools to help prevent illness

• Children benefited from the care their mothers received after pregnancy/birth

• A network of school medical services was set up which provided medical inspections, school nurses, and vaccinations.

The general impact of the NHS

* All people could receive free healthcare
* The life expectancy, especially of the poor, increased dramaticlly due to new access to treatment
* Hospitals gained advanced technology and medical equipment

Criticisms of the NHS

• there was a high demand and waiting lists became long

• Due to the increasing population, the demand was overwhelming and some services which were originally free (for example dental care) started to charge again, to keep up with the costs.

Emphasis on Healthy Lifestyles & government campaigns

• Emphasis on living a healthy lifestyle to prevent non-contagious diseases

• Government campaigns including Drinkaware 2014 and Change4Life 2015

• Smoking dangers discovered and laws put in places e.g. 2005 all tobacco advertising banned & 2006 smoking in public areas banned

How did surgery improve in this era?

• quicker, safer new techniques such as keyhole surgery

• machines such as heart bypass machine made surgery safer and longer

• (more modern) robotic surgery

• Discovery of blood groups & invention of blood transfusions finally solved the problem of blood loss during surgery

• Transplants

• Plastic surgery began after the wars

Mass vaccinations - examples

• Measles 1968 (then MMR later)

• polio 1950s

• COVID 2020

Improvements in diagnosis

• Technology used instead of having to use surgery to diagnose

• genetic screening to diagnose genetic conditions or identify faulty genes

• technology e.g. CT scans, X-rays, MRIs , blood tests

National Insurance Act 1911

• enabled workers to access medical care

• Issue - only workers could access, not their families or unemployed.