Medicine in Wales c.1800-2000 : Public Service or Private Commodity?

At a time when the proper role of the state is under constant review, its relationship to the private sphere is a matter of considerable public concern. Medicine in Wales, c.1800-2000 places this debate in historical context.

Research-based case studies explore themes that range from the water supply to suicide, from mutual aid to industrial rehabilitation and the medical inspection of school children, and from nursing during the First World War to experiences of childbirth and health visiting after 1945. A concluding chapter assesses why medicine has failed to deliver the equitable outcomes that were promised with the creation of the National Health Service.

Throughout the book, particular attention is paid to the partnership between the state, scientific knowledge, and professional expertise, and to its implications for the producers and consumers of healthcare in terms of class and citizenship, family, gender and community, and the urban/rural contrasts within Welsh national identity.