History of NHS: Rationale

Students will already have studied the rationale behind the formation of the National Health Service and the role it plays. They will also have some notion of the costs involved in running such a vast organisation. With much media coverage of the problems in the NHS, many of which are related to financial matters, students should have some idea of the problems facing the NHS in trying to deliver the promises made at its inception.

Fibre optic If students have no background knowledge, then a debate could be set up to encourage students to think about the problems facing NHS trusts with regard to budgets. Some of the costs outlined in Resource 2 and comments on Resource 3 might help with this.

By working through this activity, students should acquire an understanding of the problems faced by the NHS, and the moral issues involved in making decisions. These decisions fall into three categories:

1 How should money be devolved to various health areas and are any areas of treatment/care more/less deserving of money than others?

2 Should lifestyle choices affect the treatment given to individuals?

3 Should class, education level, ability to pay or other factors influence levels of treatment?

They will, themselves, be making decisions about what they perceive as priorities and explaining why they have chosen as they have. This will help them develop an understanding of the difficulties involved in making decisions that can affect the quality of life of certain individuals and how we often make judgements based on lifestyle choices or other aspects.

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History of NHS Rationale (, 32 KB)