‘Our NHS:

Yale University Press

In recent decades, a wave of appreciation for the NHS has swept across the UK. Britons have clapped for frontline workers and championed the service as a distinctive national achievement. All this has happened in the face of ideological opposition, marketisation, and workforce crises. But how did the NHS become what it is today?

In this wide-ranging history, Andrew Seaton examines the full story of the NHS. He traces how the service has changed and adapted, bringing together the experiences of patients, staff from Britain and abroad, and the service’s wider supporters and opponents. He explains not only why it survived the neoliberalism of the late 20th century but also how it became a key marker of national identity. Seaton emphasizes the resilience of the NHS – perpetually “in crisis” and yet perennially enduring – as well as the political values it embodies and the work of those who have tirelessly kept it afloat.

About the author

Andrew Seaton is a historian of modern Britain. He writes about the history of medicine and environment, politics, and social history. Andrew is currently a Leverhulme Early Career Fellow at University College London (UCL). Alongside his first book, Our NHS: A History of Britain’s Best-Loved Institution (Yale University Press), Andrew has published award-winning articles in academic journals and appeared in The Financial Times, The New York Times, Le Monde, and on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Start the Week’.

Read an extract from Our NHS: A History of Britain’s Best-Loved Institution.

Read an interview with Andrew Seaton.