Historical figure · Pearson Edexcel International GCSE revision on Incandio

Aneurin Bevan

I Stuffed Their Mouths With Gold · Minister of Health · 1897–1960

The miner who became Minister of Health, nationalised the hospitals against the doctors' organised opposition, and opened the National Health Service on 5 July 1948.

Defend these ideas against Bevan

Incandio is a free revision platform for the Pearson Edexcel International GCSE, and on it a topic counts as mastered only once you have learned it, proved it in questions, taught it back and defended it against the person with the strongest claim on it. Aneurin Bevan is that person for one topic on the course:

• Beveridge and the NHS — History · Changes in medicine, c1848–c1948

Who was Bevan?

Born in Tredegar in 1897, Bevan went into the pits at fourteen and learned his politics in the Tredegar Medical Aid Society, which supplied a whole town's medicine out of subscriptions and which he later described as the model for the NHS. He entered Parliament in 1929 and became Minister of Health and Housing in 1945. He nationalised the voluntary and municipal hospitals against the advice of nearly everybody, and bought the consultants' participation with private practice and pay beds inside the service — 'I stuffed their mouths with gold'. The British Medical Association balloted against him twice. The service opened on 5 July 1948, free at the point of need. He resigned in April 1951 over prescription charges introduced to pay for rearmament.

Major achievements

• Created the National Health Service, free at the point of need, on 5 July 1948
• Nationalised the voluntary and municipal hospitals into a single system
• Built 800,000 houses as Minister of Housing in the same period
• Secured the consultants' participation without conceding the principle of a universal service

Life in brief

• 1897 — Born in Tredegar: Into the pits at fourteen.
• 1929 — Enters Parliament: For Ebbw Vale, which he held for life.
• 1945 — Minister of Health and Housing: In the Attlee government.
• 1946 — The National Health Service Act: Passed against organised BMA opposition.
• 1948 — The appointed day: 5 July: the service opens, free at the point of need.
• 1951 — Resigns: Over prescription charges introduced to pay for rearmament.

Explore the life of Bevan — five chapters

1. Tredegar — The pit at thirteen, and the Medical Aid Society
2. The Making of a Speaker — Blacklisted, unemployed, and elected at thirty-two
3. The Act — One service, free at the point of use, out of taxation
4. The Doctors — A profession that balloted against it, twice
5. The Resignation — A shilling on a prescription, and a principle

Read the five-chapter life of Aneurin Bevan →

Begin

• Start a conversation with Bevan — a dramatised, historically grounded AI portrayal
• Read the Historical Brief
• Explore the life of Bevan — five chapters
• Find your course · Meet all 280 figures