The National health Service

The National Health Service was established throughout the United Kingdom on 5^th July 1948. Similar services operate in England and Wales, in Scotland and in Northern Ireland, but with administrative differences.

The introduction of the new health service did not mean a complete break with the past. On the contrary, all that was good in the existing services was absorbed into a new scheme. The National Health Service made it possible that the benefits once available only to insured persons or those who could afford to ay for them, or as a form of charity, became available to everyone. The Service consists of three main parts:

· The general practitioner services;

· The hospital and specialist services;

· And a local health authority services (comprising range of home and clinical services for prevention, treatment or care).

The public is free to use the Service, or any independent part of it, as it pleases. The patient is free to choose his doctor, and to change to another if he wishes to do so. The doctor may accept private patients while taking part in the Service.

About 97 per cent of the whole population of Great Britain is using the Service. The great majority of specialists and general practitioners are taking part in the Service.

NOTES

1. National Health Service – государственная служба здравоохранения
2. on the contrary – наоборот
3. that benefits once available only to insured persons or those who could afford to pay for them, or as a form of charity, became available to everyone – чтобы медицинская помощь, некогда доступная только застрахованным лицам и тем, кто мог ее оплачивать, либо получаемая в форме благотворительности, стала доступной каждому
4. the general practitioner services – служба врачей общей практики
5. the hospital and specialist services – больничная и специализированные службы
6. local health authority services – местные органы здравоохранения

1. home and clinical services – помощь на дому и в поликлинике
2. The public is free to use the Service, or any independent part of it, as it pleases. – население может свободно пользоваться либо всеми услугами Государственной службы здравоохранения, либо только некоторыми, по своему усмотрению.
3. private patient – частные пациенты