page_title: Culture of the United Kingdom
section_title: Healthcare
hierarchical_section_title: Culture of the United Kingdom / Healthcare
caption_attribution_description: NIGHTINGALE, Florence {1820-1910} Crimean War: Florence Nightingale with her candle making the night round of the wards at Scutari hospital. Coloured mezzotint, c. 1855, by Tomkins after Butterworth. Florence Nightingale an angel of mercy. Scutari hospital 1855. ... Butterworth. Tomkins. Lettering continues: "when all the medical officers have retired for the night, and silence and darkness have settled down upon thosse miles of prostrate sick, she may be observed alone, with a little lamp in her hand, making her solitary rounds" letter from Scutari, in the Times, February 1855. Iconographic Collections Keywords: burgess, portraits, 2151.8; nightingale, florence {1820-19; women in medicine; Nurses; Hospitals, Military; Military Nursing; Military Personnel; Crimean War; Florence Nightingale; J. Butterworth; Charles Algernon Tomkins
context_page_description: British culture is influenced by the combined nations' history; its historically Christian religious life, its interaction with the cultures of Europe, the traditions of England, Wales and Scotland, and the impact of the British Empire. Although British culture is a distinct entity, the individual cultures of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are diverse and have varying degrees of overlap and distinctiveness.
  British literature is particularly esteemed. The novel was invented in Britain, and playwrights, poets, and authors are among its most prominent cultural figures. Britain has also made notable contributions to music, cinema, art, architecture and television. The UK is also the home of the Church of England, the state church and mother church of the Anglican Communion, the third-largest Christian denomination. Britain contains some of the world's oldest universities, has made many contributions to philosophy, science and technology, and is the birthplace of many prominent scientists and inventions. The Industrial Revolution began in the UK and had a profound effect on the family socio-economic and cultural conditions of the world.
context_section_description: Each of the four countries of the UK has a publicly funded health care system referred to as the National Health Service (NHS). The terms "National Health Service" or "NHS" are also used to refer to the four systems collectively. All of the services were founded in 1948, based on legislation passed by the Labour Government that had been elected in 1945 with a manifesto commitment to implement the Beveridge Report recommendation to create "comprehensive health and rehabilitation services for prevention and cure of disease".
  The NHS was born out of a long-held ideal that good healthcare should be available to all, regardless of wealth. At its launch by the then minister of health, Aneurin Bevan, on 5 July 1948, it had at its heart three core principles: That it meet the needs of everyone, that it be free at the point of delivery, and that it be based on clinical need, not ability to pay. The NHS had a prominent slot during the 2012 London Summer Olympics opening ceremony directed by Danny Boyle, being described as "the institution which more than any other unites our nation", according to the programme. Cancer Research UK, Alzheimer's Research UK and Together for Short Lives are among hundreds of health charities in the UK.
  Florence Nightingale laid the foundation of modern nursing with the establishment of her nursing school at St Thomas' Hospital in London. It was the first secular nursing school in the world, now part of King's College London. Nightingale wrote Notes on Nursing in 1859. The book served as the cornerstone of the curriculum at the Nightingale School and other nursing schools. The Nightingale Pledge is taken by new nurses, and the annual International Nurses Day (12 May) is celebrated around the world on her birthday. Her social reforms improved healthcare for all sections of society in the UK and around the world.
caption: The founder of modern nursing Florence Nightingale tending to a patient in 1855. An icon of Victorian Britain, she is known as The Lady with the Lamp.
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