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Press Releases
³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ marks 60th anniversary of the NHS |
The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is marking the 60th anniversary of the National Health Service – created on 5 July 1948 – with a range of programmes and reports.
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The specially commissioned output will explore the establishment and evolution of the NHS, the achievements and failures and the challenges facing the service today.
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Flagship ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ News programmes including the Today programme, Newsnight and Panorama will investigate topics including the move from a curative to a preventative service, comparisons with health provision in other countries, variations within the UK and the issues of cleanliness and funding the service.
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The multi-media coverage will include a dedicated section on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ News website, bbc.co.uk/news, with features, video and audio reports on how doctors, patients, politicians and the public see the development of the NHS.
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The season of programmes will begin in June and will continue in the week of the anniversary in July.
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On Monday 30 June a week of programming begins with an opinion poll on Your NHS.
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The poll will gauge what people think about the state of the health service, what the priorities are for the future and what treatments they would be prepared to pay for.
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Panorama (7 July) on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One will report on how the health service is moving towards elements of privatised provision with competition playing a bigger role in the health marketplace. The programme will ask if it has it gone too far or if this is the only way forward.
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Newsnight (30 June) on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Two will host the Big NHS Debate. Gavin Esler chairs and topics will include whether the NHS is "fit for purpose" and how will it be funded for the next 60 years.
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The debate will feature views from people around the UK and their experiences in the NHS, which is also represented on a map of personal accounts on the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ News website.
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On The One Show (³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One), Justin Rowlatt will spend a week in a large teaching hospital, experiencing all aspects of hospital life.
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³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio Five Live will also be broadcasting live from a hospital and talking to patients and staff.
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The Politics Show on ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ One will host a special edition (29ÌýJune) looking in detail at the many variations in health provision in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland and asking just how "national" is the National Health Service.
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The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ News Channel will be exploring regional and national variations on 4 July in a series of live reports from around the UK.
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On ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 4, there are two major series.
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³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Health Correspondent Branwen Jeffreys presents four debates for Radio 4 on Tuesdays from 1 July. Each week she and a panel of guests will look at some of the funding dilemmas that face the NHS and analyse how, in each case, the cost of health is balanced against quality of care and the values of the NHS.
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Radio 4 will also present a three-part documentary series on doctors (26 June and 2 & 7 July). The doctor's role has always been intensely political – from the beginning, when many GPs were opposed to the creation of the NHS, to the present day, when rows over hours and contracts make the headlines.
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³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Wales will be looking into the background of the "father" of the NHS, Aneurin Bevan, whose family still live in the same area.
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On ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 1, Newsbeat will run a series of short features from 30 June to 4 July entitled I Care About The NHS Because: I Work For The NHS; NHS Gave Me MRSA; I'm Having My Baby In NHS Hospital; and a US perspective on "free" treatment.
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The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ News website will carry extensive mulitmedia coverage.
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The site will be offering features on what doctors see as the most important surgical innovations of the last 60 years and will feature profiles of health workers who were around at the inception of the NHS and a woman who was born on the day the NHS was founded.
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The website will also feature analysis from leading television and radio correspondents on issues such as: Is the NHS value for money? What does the future hold? How does Japan deal with the problem of an ageing population – a problem currently faced by the NHS?
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PR
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