The National Health Service (NHS) is the publicly-funded healthcare system of the United Kingdom. Since 1948 it has been fund ... ed out of general taxation. It is made up of four separate systems that serve each part of the UK: The National Health Service in England, NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care in Northern Ireland. They were established together in 1948 as one of the major social reforms following the Second World War. The founding principles were that services should be comprehensive, universal and free at the point of delivery.[1] Each service provides a comprehensive range of health services, free at the point of use for people ordinarily resident in the United Kingdom, apart from dental treatment and optical care.[2] In England, NHS patients have to pay prescription charges with a range of exemptions from these charges. read more