The NHS was founded in 1948 by Prime Minister Clement Attlee’s Labour Government as part of a huge overhaul of public services in the UK.
It was formed out of a long-held belief in Britain that healthcare should be free at the point of delivery regardless of wealth or status, with the atrocities suffered in the Second World War only highlighting the need for it.
The idea was a national health service available to all would be funded through a combination of taxation and national insurance contributions, with newly appointed health minister Aneurin Bevan spearheading the campaign.
Mr Bevan, the son of a coal miner, was born in south Wales in 1897 and became involved in local union politics even at a young age.
He was named head of his Miners’ Lodge when aged 19, where he frequently railed against management before joining the Labour party and briefly moving to London.
Upon returning to Wales, he struggled to find a job before picking up a job as a union official, which led to him becoming a leading figure in the 1926 general strike.
The National HEalth Service was first established in the summer of 1948, pictured
In 1928, Bevan won a seat on Monmouthshire County Council and was elected as the MP for Ebbw Vale the following year.
In Parliament, he became a vocal critic of numerous other politicians from all parties, including Winston Churchill and David Lloyd George, which saw him quickly become a well-known public figure.
Then, inspired by the Tredegar Medical Aid Socity in his hometown, Bevan led the establishment of the National Health Service to provide medical care free at point-of-need to all Britons, regardless of wealth.
The Government encountered some opposition in its efforts to establish the NHS, notably from certain medical professionals.
However, there was cross-party support for the idea, with the Conservative party also seeing the need for an NHS.
Speaking following its creation, Bevan said: ‘There is nothing that destroys the family budget of the professional worker more than heavy hospital bills and doctors’ bills.’
‘The eyes of the world are turning to Great Britain. We now have the moral leadership of the world.’
The first ever NHS patient, on July 5 1948, was 13-year-old Sylvia Diggory, who Bevan visited in hospital.
Speaking after the meeting, she was quoted as saying: ‘Mr Bevan asked me if I understood the significance of the occasion and told me it was a milestone in history – the most civilised step any country had ever taken.’
Since its inception certain parts of the NHS have changed, such as the exclusion of dentistry from the service as well as payment for prescriptions and eye glasses.