The legacy of voluntarism: Charitable funding in the early NHS

Before 1948, approximately one‐third of the United Kingdom (UK)’s hospital beds were located in voluntary hospitals, many of which continued to benefit from the funds generated by their historic endowments. When the National Health Service (NHS) was created, the vast majority of these hospitals were...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:The Economic history review 2024-05, Vol.77 (2), p.554-583
Main Authors: Harris, Bernard, Cresswell, Rosemary
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Beds
Charity
health
Health care expenditures
Health services
Hospitals
National Health Service
United Kingdom
Voluntarism
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Summary:Before 1948, approximately one‐third of the United Kingdom (UK)’s hospital beds were located in voluntary hospitals, many of which continued to benefit from the funds generated by their historic endowments. When the National Health Service (NHS) was created, the vast majority of these hospitals were taken over by the State. This paper examines the neglected question of what happened to these endowments and the role which charity continued to play in the funding of NHS hospitals more generally. It makes an explicit attempt to examine the development of hospital services in each of the UK's constituent nations and shows how the treatment of endowments and the role of charity differed between them. It also highlights the continuing importance of arguments over the ‘boundaries’ between ‘essential’ and ‘non‐essential’ forms of health service expenditure, and between the roles of the statutory and voluntary sectors more generally.
ISSN:0013-0117
1468-0289
DOI:10.1111/ehr.13280