Theme 2 b 3 - The impact of the NHS to 1979 Flashcards
(32 cards)
Impact on public health
What happened to life expectancy of men & women between 1948-1979?
Women : 70.1 years (1948) - 77 years (1979)
Men : 65.8 years (1948) - 71 years (1979)
Impact on public health
What caused the increase in life expectancy?
Combination- better healthcare & increased affluence.
What did the Merrison Report 1979 argue?
- Hospitals recieved around 70% of NHS funding, whereas other services including GP services & preventative health programmes recieved much less.
- Within hospitals- surgery and general medecine recieved much more money than services dealing with mental illness & geriatric medecine.
- Investment in hospitals tended to create regional inequalities. e.g. A lot of the investment in hospitals introduced in the 1962 Hospital Plan was spent in London.
Health & class
Who benefitted more from the NHS?
Why was this?
- The middle class tended to benefit more than the working class.
- Investment in working- class areas lagged behind investment in middle-class areas.
Health & class
Research in the 1950s indicated what about budget allocations?
Give an example of what a study found?
When did this problem persist into?
- Budget allocations favoured middle class areas.
- Hospitals in some middle-class areas recieved an annual budget of £4.98 per head - whereas in working- class areas, busgets were set at £3.19 per head.
- 1970s- similar study conducted 1972 found that middle class areas tended to have per capita budgets that were 24% higher than working-class areas.
Health & class
What did the Black Report, published by the Department of Health and Social Security in 1980 indicate about the gap between working class & middle-class healthcare?
It grew between 1949 & 1972.
Health & Class
By the 1970s- what did the gap between the richest and the poorest mean that?
- Working class women - twice as likely to die in childbirth compared to middle-class women.
- Unskilled working men- twice as likely to die before reaching the age of 65 as middle-class professionals.
Impact on women- reproduction
What did the NHS give women greater control over?
What did this lead to?
Control over their fertility!
Led to a decline in birth rates!
Impact on women- reproduction
Women born in 1920 had how many children on average?
How is this different to a woman born in 1966?
1920- Two children (average)
1966 - 1.3 children (average)
Impact on women- reproduction
What contributed to women having fewer babies?
- Free contraception from NHS- only available from 1970s.
- Education provided by the NHS.
- Contraceptive pill- introduced 1961.
Impact on women- reproduction
What were the drawbacks of the availability of the contraceptive pill?
- Early contraceptive pills had side effects such as an increased risk of a stroke & some types of cancer.
- The availability of the pill meant that men tended to take less responsibility for contraception.
Abortion
How did the 1967 Abortion Act have a mixed impact on women’s reproductive rights?
- The right to terminate a pregnancy was dependent on the approval of two - typically male doctors.
- Medical staff were given the legal right to refuse to participate in terminations.
- Access to abortions were controlled by medical professionals - and therefore provisions reflected the beliefs and prejudices of doctors.
Abortion
Between 1968 & 1978, how many terminations were carried out?
1.5 million terminations.
Abortion
How were abortions more easily available to middle class women?
Around 58% were performed in the private sector, to women who paid around £200 for the procedure.
How was medical supervision of abortion regulated?
What did this result in between 1968 & 1978?
Poorly regulated in the NHS.
86 people died during a legal abortion between 1968& 1978, and 72 died as a result of NHS surgery!
Childbirth
In the 1950s- what % of women gave birth in hospital?
60%
Childbirth
By 1978, what % of women gave birth in hospitals?
97%
Childbirth
How did the number of women giving birth in hospital change from the 1950s to 1978?
Changed from 60% (1950s) to 97% (1978)
Childbirth
How far women benefitted from hospitalisation during this period is disputed. What did one survey record?
What did this lead to?
- Between 70-90% of women who gave birth in hospitals were given an episiotomy in order to assist the birth.
- Procedure led to pain when sitting in 68% of cases and longer recovery times. The procedure- often carried out without the consent or knowledge of the woman.
Childbirth
What have many feminist writers argued about the medicalisation of childbirth?
- Shifted away power from women to men.
- Doctors - who between 1948 & 1979 were predominantly men and controlled childbirth.
Women and work
What did the NHS create for women & why was this?
- Greater opportunities for women in the workplace.
- The expansion of health & social services created a state-funded ‘caring profession’.
- According to traditional stereotypes- women were naturally more caring than men- so were able to find jobs in these new professions.
Women & work
In 1948- how many female nurses did the government try to recruit?
54,000 female nurses.
Women & work
Where were a significant minority of female nurses recruited from?
The Caribbean
Women & work
What were the limiting factors for women within job opportunites?
- Women in general- restricted to the lower paid and lower status jobs in the 1950s & 1960s.
- Experience of black women = even worse. Promotion was extremely rare and they were subjected to racial harassment.
