70th anniversary of the NHS

It may have its problems but how would be manage without it?

Do we have anyone who remembers either first hand or from their parents what it was like before when you were ill and couldn't afford to pay for treatment?

Freedom wrote:It may have its problems but how would be manage without it?

Do we have anyone who remembers either first hand or from their parents what it was like before when you were ill and couldn't afford to pay for treatment?

Yes I was born before the NHS and fortunate that I had a healthy childhood and was an only child so better fed I suppose. My mum had an old tin with little glasses in where she would put the weekly payments, I still have the tin and glasses and one of the labels says Doctor so I presume this was for any doctor visits. Another said Insurance so I presume it was a life Insurance. She kept up with these glasses for weekly payments right up to going into a nursinghome.
I was a nurse myself training in the late 60s early 70s and very different to the nursing of these days.

I wish I'd asked my mother more questions now but of course as a child you're not very interested - or at least I wasn't. My sister was born before 1948 and me afterwards so there would have been some stories to tell. 

We were a very low income family and my mother was always in poor health so goodness knows how she managed.