NHS - National Health Service in the UK

The NHS (or National Health Service) a publicly funded health organisation that is the largest in the UK and the third largest employer in the world. Only the Chinese Army and Indian Railway employ more staff. It provides the vast majority of healthcare in the UK whether this is for inpatient, long term of primary care needs for instance. Private healthcare is also run alongside this and it is to the main part paid for by private insurance policies. Overall, it is a very small percentage of the population that use this and usually it is as a 'top up' to services that have been provided by the NHS. The cost of running the NHS is currently estimated at over £100 billion per year and the costs of this are met by the UK tax payer. As a result services are free at the point where the patient receives them, though prescription charges may apply for the majority of prescribed medications.

The Secretary of State for Health is in charge of the Department of Health, which is the government body responsible for the NHS.

The NHS was set up after the Second World War as part of a government strategy and the National Health Service Act of 1946 came into being on 5th July 1948.

There are several different kinds of NHS trusts that all work together but provide different services:-

Primary Care Trusts - these are the centre of the NHS and control over 80% of the total budget. They were recently reduced in numbers in a drive to make services 'closer' and to reduce costs spent on this. They are responsible for GPs as well as NHS dentists and provide patient with acute care, administer vaccinations and oversee epidemics should we have any!

Hospital Trusts - these are obviously responsible for the UK's hospitals and oversee the care that is given to patients during inpatient care. This also covers various treatment centres and specialist care.

There are also other trusts including the Ambulance Trusts, Care Trusts and Mental Health Care Trusts.

The NHS not only pays for health care costs but also employs the vast majority of the doctors and nurses that work within it. This is different from GP's, dentists and opticians who are actually self employed but contract their services back to the NHS. The NHS currently has around 1.3 million staff.