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National Health Stories

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Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Factual: History

Sally Sheard on the characters, innovations and heroic standoffs that have shaped the NHS.

On 5 July 1948, healthcare in Britain became free for all. Sally Sheard reveals the characters, innovations and heroic standoffs that have shaped the NHS.

On 5 July 1948, for the first time anywhere in the world, healthcare in Britain became free for all. Sally Sheard reveals the characters, innovations and heroic standoffs that have shaped the NHS.

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National Health Stories: Scandal

Poor Treatment

02/07/2018

Scandal

BBC Radio 4 - National Health Stories, Scandal

How unsung heroine Barbara Robb exposed glaring gaps in the care of the mentally ill.

How unsung heroine Barbara Robb triggered a nationwide investigation into the care of the mentally ill, forgotten in the vast long-stay institutions.

In a series tracing decisive moments in the life of our National Health Service, medical historian Sally Sheard reveals how the little-known campaigner Barbara Robb exposed glaring gaps in the care of the mentally ill, forgotten in the vast long-stay institutions.

'Mental hospitals', as they were then called, had long been out of sight and out of mind, a low priority in the cash-strapped NHS. 

Health Minister Enoch Powell's famous 'Water Tower' speech, in 1961, announced the mass movement of long-stay patients into the community. His optimism for this plan was buoyed by the new generation of psychiatric drugs developed in the fifties. 

But nothing changed, until Barbara Robb went to one long-stay institution to visit an acquaintance. She was so horrified by the conditions there that she took up the fight for its voiceless patients. 

Her campaign triggered a nationwide investigation, supported by NHS whistle-blowers and patients' families, forcing the government to bring in regular hospital inspections. Robb's legacy also lives on in the more open culture in the NHS that she brought about.

Producer: Beth Eastwood.

Intelligent speech, the most insightful journalism, the wittiest comedy, the most fascinating features and the most compelling drama and readings anywhere in UK radio.

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