NHS Wales is the National Health Service for Wales which is the responsibility of the Welsh Government and is publicly funded by the Government for the population in Wales.
The main principle of the National Health Service for Wales is to ensure 'good healthcare available to all, regardless of wealth’.
The NHS was established on 5th July 1948. The chief architect of the National Health Service was the Minister for Health and Welshman Aneurin Bevan. Next time you visit Cardiff, go along to Queen Street near the castle to see a bronze memorial honouring him for establishing the NHS.
Before the NHS was set up, healthcare was provided based on your ability to pay for it privately. People had to pay for various health services and many suffered because of their lack of money and poverty.
A number of different services are provided by NHS Wales including smoking cessation, antenatal screening, and routine treatment from coughs to complex surgery e.g. open heart, cancer screening, accident and emergency treatment and end of life care.
The Welsh Government's Department for Health and Social Services manages NHS Wales with a Cabinet Minister called Vaughan Gething (https://llyw.cymru/vaughan-gething-as ) who reports as Minister for Health and Social Serices to the First Minister.
NHS Wales is the largest employer in Wales with over 90,000 staff working for the service. The NHS has a budget of £8.9 billion and 75% of the budget goes towards staff salaries.
In addition to staff directly employed by NHS Wales there are other health professions supporting the service including dentists, opticians, pharmacists and nearly 2,000 people who work mainly in primary care settings.
The NHS Wales annual budget accounts for around 50% of the total Welsh Government budget.
NHS Wales delivers its services through Health Boards and Trusts. What is the name of the Health Board in your area? What services are available to support you?
Old Beliefs
Most people in the middle ages never saw a doctor. They were treated by a local man or woman skilled in using herbs, or by the priest, or the barber who pulled teeth, re-set broken bones and performed other operations!
Their treatments were a mixture of superstition, religion and herbal medicines. Strangely some of them are still in use today! For example, red clover flowers (Trifolium pratense) used to be used to cure thsymptoms of whooping cough. In addition, monks and nuns used to run hospitals in their monasteries to support the sick and the dead.
Here are some beliefs about curing different illnesses.
MMR: The Big Debate
Even though the MMR triple injection against mumps, measles and rubella was introduced about a quarter of century ago it is still a source of controversy.
The government and most doctors insist it is safe but others argue it has horrific side effects.
The case for:
The case against:
In the United States millions of dollars of compensation has been paid to parents who claim that their children have suffered as a result of an MMR vaccination.
Nature cures
Up until the beginning of the Second World War in 1939 the majority of drugs used by doctors were connected to nature. Plants were the most common source although some chemicals and metals were used e.g. sulphur, potassium, salt, iron.
Shortly after the end of the Second World War hundreds of synthetic drugs appeared – some prepared in laboratories. When the National Health Service was established in 1948 and drugs became available free of charge the practice of using the old medicines ceased.
These medicines were available around the world and were really old. In 1963 in Shanidar in northern Iraq a grave was opened and in it was the body of a man who died 63,000 years ago. In the grave were six types of plant seeds: hollyhock, bluebells, yarrow, thistle, cornflower and ragwort. They had been placed in the grave for the deceased person to use as medicines.
Nowadays, plants that for a long time were taken for illnesses are just insignifcant hedgerow plants. Comfrey was used to treat illnesses of the stomach but their Welsh name – llysiau’r cwlwm – comes from the old practice of binding the leaves around broken bones to help them heal.
Yarrow was good for clotting the blood while ribwort plantain was renowned for alleviating diarrhoea.
One plant in common use was the foxglove. In ancient times it was used to treat heart diseases, but too much is lethal!
Families seem to remember herbal medicines as the information is transmitted from one generation to the next.
Wales leading the way
10 February 2021
In 2015, Wales became the first country in the UK to switch from a system where people opt in to organ donation, to an opt-out system. Therefore, the law states that everyone in Wales supports organ donation, unles they say that they do not want to be a donor.
The purpose of the Act is to secure more organs for transplantation. This will mean that fewer people will die while waiting for a suitable organ.
Where a person wishes not to donate one of their organs, they have to declare it during their lifetime. Otherwise, it is assumed that anyone over the age of 18 who has lived in Wales for twelve months is willing for their organs to be used.
Every year in the UK, more than 4000 people have been given the chance to live longer and fuller lives because people have donated organs.
Organ and tissue transplantation is one of the most successful medical treatments. One donor can improve or save the life of up to 9 people by donating an organ and many more by donating tissue. Although many people say that they would be willing to donate an organ or receive one if necessary, this is not reflected in the number of people on the Organ Donation Register. And while things have improved there is still a shortage of organs.
Talk to each other. Remember to tell those closest to you what your wishes are with regard to organ donation.
For further information visit the Welsh Government website https://gov.wales/organ-donation-guide
