The UK free National Health System

About the National Health Service (NHS)

Since its launch in 1948, the NHS has grown to become the world’s largest publicly funded health service. It is also one of the most efficient, egalitarian and comprehensive.

Funding

Funding for the NHS comes directly from taxation and is granted to the Department of Health by Parliament. When the NHS was launched in 1948, it had a budget of £437 million (roughly £9 billion at today’s value). For 2012/13, it was around £108.9 billion. 

 

 

"The obese and smokers are less of a strain on a free healthcare system because they tend to die early and wont get the more expensive diseases that healthy people get in the last stages of their lives!"

 

 

 

 

The number of people with obesity in the UK has more than trebled in the last 25 years. Doctors now say that the condition is reaching 'epidemic' proportions.  

Some experts believe obesity is responsible for more ill health than smoking. Being significantly overweight is linked to a wide range of health problems, including:

 

Diabetes,   Heart disease

High blood pressure,   Arthritis

Indigestion  Gallstones

Some cancers (eg, breast and prostate cancers)

Snoring and sleep apnoea

Stress, anxiety, and depression

Infertility