Great Britain. The National Health Service Act was passed through the Parliament in 1946 and introduced into practice in 1948

The National Health Service Act was passed through the Parliament in 1946 and introduced into practice in 1948.

Most medical treatment in Great Britain is free but charges are made for drugs, spectacles, and dental care. Free emergency medical treatment is given to any visitor from abroad who becomes ill while staying in the country. But those who come to the UK especially for treatment must pay for it.

NHS provides free medical treatment both in hospitals and outside. It consists of three main parts: the general practitioner (including dental) services (GPS); the hospital and specialist service; local health authorities services.

People are free to choose any medical service or any doctor. In big towns there are some private hospitals. Many well-off people prefer to be private patients. In fact, 97% of the population uses NHS. The practitioner services consist of the Family Doctor Service (FDS), the Dental Service (DS), and the Pharmaceutical Service (PhS). All these services provide the patient with individual medical care that he needs.

Besides numerous hospitals there are more than 150 health centers in the UK. They contain all the special diagnostic and therapeutic services which doctors need, such as electrocardiography, X-ray, physiotherapy, good administrative and medical records system. The resources of health centers are at the disposal both of hospital and family doctors. Health centers are the basis of primary care.

There are centers which provide consultant services in general medicine and surgery, ear-nose-throat diseases, obstetrics and gynecology, ophthalmology, psychiatry and orthopedics. All consultations in the center are by appointment only. The patient is given a definite time to attend. Each doctor decides for himself how many patients he can examine for an hour. The patient is the most important person in the health center and all the efforts of doctors are directed to help him as much as possible.