For the first time – everyone in Britain has free access to a family doctor, prescription drugs, glasses or dentures. Hospitals mostly carry on their normal daily routines – they have patients to care for.
The big difference is in general practices, pharmacies, opticians and dental surgeries coping with a torrent of demand from patients who previously could not afford treatment or essential appliances.
According to Arthur Woodburn, Secretary of State for Scotland: “We have had one-legged patients coming in for an artificial leg who had never had one before. We have sometimes had the tragedy that it is now too late to fit limbs and all we can do is to supply them with wheeled chairs.”
In its first full financial year, the total cost of the NHS in Scotland is nearly £42 million – around 2s 8d (13p) a week per head of population.