Challenges the NHS faced with expanding treatments 1951-64.

• Demand for NHS services grew rapidly from 1948.
• Free healthcare lead to increase in demand in the no. of perscriptions to 13.6 million in September 1948 from 6.8 million the previous June.
• Between 1949-64 more medicine's available, lead to increasing NHS drug cost.
• NHS spent 250% more on drugs in 1964 than in 51. 
• Vaccinations increased, prior to 1939 only routine vaccination was for smallpox, by 1964 there were vaccines for diptheria, TB, poliomyelitis, whooping cough and tetanus all universally available.

• 1948-60 there had been little investment to modernising NHS hospitals, little done to tackle inequalities of provision.
• During the 60's&70's government plans to tackle this were only partly successful. 
• Increasing demand on NHS resources as new treatment developed, leading to rising expectations and growing costs.
• Government spent less on health than any other European countries.
• No. of consultants & nursing staff increased by 66% from 1964-79, technical staff increased by 300%. 
• Staffing increased from 407,000 in 1951 to just over 1 million in 1979.
• Population increased, demand increased e.g. NHS performed 24,000 hip replacements in 1979.
• During 1964&79 there were advances in surgery such as heart bypass and organ transplant operations. In 1979 the NHS performed around 800 kidney transplants & around 5,000 heart bypass operations.

Yes, it was in crisis:

• Growing demand for services, due to medical advances and growing age of the population.
• Healthcare provision remained uneven across the country and in different branches of medicine e.g Mental Health care.
• By the late 1970's it was no longer assumed that economic growth would continue and support ever-increasing spending on healthcare.
• Nonetheless, the NHS was protected by a widespread public consensus that viewed it as an indispensable part of British national life.