Health
 The UK health sector continues to grow and diversify both inside and outside the National Health Service (NHS).
National Health Service in Britain
The NHS is the cornerstone of the UK health sector. Since it was launched in 1948, the NHS has become the world’s largest publicly funded health service.
The NHS was set up on the basis of three core principles:
* to provide a service to meet the needs of the whole population;
* that the service should to be free at the point of delivery; and
* that the service should be based on clinical need, not ability to pay.
The NHS employs around 1.5 million people, including 90,000 hospital doctors, 35,000 general practitioners (GPs), 400,000 nurses and 16,000 paramedics and ambulance staff.
NHS Services in Britain
The NHS provides a wide range of services throughout the UK, either directly or contracted to independent practitioners. They include:
* GPs’ surgeries;
* Hospitals, including accident and emergency provision;
* Dentistry;
* Opticians’ services;
* Pharmacy;
* Physiotherapy and occupational therapy;
* Mental health care;
* Social care.
Although the NHS is centrally funded by taxation, certain powers have been devolved away from the Westminster Parliament since regional assemblies were set up and the NHS is now managed separately in the four home nations. As a result, some differences in health service practice are starting to become noticeable between England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland.
NHS Direct
NHS Direct offers 24-hour health advice by telephone and via the internet and digital television. Amongst its services, the NHS Direct website offers a health encyclopaedia, answers to common health questions and advice about finding local health services including GPs’ surgeries, dentists, pharmacies and walk-in centres.
Alternative Medicine
Although the NHS supports alternative medicine in some areas of its operations, the vast majority of alternative medicine falls outside the remit of the NHS. Disillusionment with the impersonality of many hospitals and GPs’ surgeries has encouraged an increasing number of people to look for different ways of maintaining their health and fitness. Alternative medicine is not easy to define because it covers such a wide range of treatments, therapies, diets and herbal remedies, etc.
Acupuncture
Acupuncture is best known as a method of pain relief. However, the use of acupuncture traditionally offers a holistic approach to dealing with the health of a patient rather than as a method for targeting particular symptoms. Although the development of acupuncture is normally associated with Chinese medicine, there is evidence that acupuncture was in use in Europe as long ago as the Bronze Age. Increased scientific understanding of how acupuncture works is likely to increase its use within mainstream medicine.
Herbal Remedies
From aloe vera, black cohosh and cranberry to garlic, ginger and wild yam, herbalists have been recommending different plants to treat a variety of conditions, for hundreds of years. However, even though herbal remedies are generally less powerful than drugs, dosage needs to be monitored carefully because unpleasant side effects may result, particularly if a number of different herbal remedies are taken together in combination.
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