NHS at 70
Posted on 10 July 2018
As the NHS reaches 70, the University looks at the role departments and key staff have played in the rise of evidence-based healthcare over the years.
When Danny Boyle – the creative genius behind Shallow Grave, Trainspotting, and Slumdog Millionaire – was appointed Artistic Director for the opening ceremony of the 2012 London Olympics, he knew immediately what its centrepiece would be: a love letter to the NHS.
The dancing doctors, nurses in starched uniforms and energetic children bouncing on luminous beds, might have had some in the audience feeling a little queasy, but Boyle was confident he had his finger firmly on Britain’s emotional pulse.
The NHS, after all, is one of the nation’s most cherished public institutions.
"NHS redisorganisation"
But, while Boyle was celebrating, Professor Alan Maynard was coruscating. Reflecting on one of the most turbulent years in recent NHS history – 2012 saw the introduction of the Health and Social Care Act and the creation of NHS England – the founding father of the University of York’s Centre for Health Economics (CHE) was firing incendiaries at those behind the latest round of what he famously called "NHS redisorganisation".