NHS Online Tests

The National Health Service (NHS) is an umbrella term describing a collection of separate national public health organisations in England, Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland (the service in Northern Ireland is called Health and Social Care). The NHS was originally established on 5 July 1948 as a single public organisation in the UK with the aim of providing free health care for the entire population. Since 2013, as a result of devolution and related management and funding decentralisation reforms, the single organisational structure has undergone systemic changes and has effectively been split between the respective national jurisdictions. The NHS is mainly funded by general UK tax revenues and its services are free to all Britons, EHIC holders and refugees. Citizens of other countries can also expect some free health care.

Each of the four countries in the UK has its own independent NHS system, reporting directly to the respective national executive authorities.

In total, the NHS system employs over 1.5 million people, making it the fifth largest employer in the world. The total budget in 2016 is £116.4 billion.

On average, NHS facilities see one million patients every 36 hours.