27 replies to this topic

[walugi1105]

Hello,

I really am not sure what the government reforms were during the war to improve health. Any Ideas?

[MrJohnDClare]

Which war, walugi? First or Second?

[walugi1105]

Oops!! sorry - I meant the reforms to improve health during the second world war.

[littlemissy]

The topic covers both wars. Is it that you don't understand something you've read? Or have you been given a holiday assignment on which you're struggling to find info?

[walugi1105]

Sorry for not explaining my dilemma clearly - it's just that our teacher told us we need to know about things done to improve health during the second world war but i don't have any notes on the topic!!

[MrJohnDClare]

You know, I'm wishy washy myself on this topic.

The government did work hard to make sure that everybody was well-fed (try reading this webpage) and healthy (see this poster) for the war effort, which successfully improved the health of everybody, especially the poorest people (some posters here).
In 1939, expecting mass bombing raids, the government also set up an emergency medical service- the forerunner of the NHS; a lot of people (inlcuding my mother) volunteered as nurses - you can see some of the badges here.

Remember that the Ministry of Health also organised evacuation.

On a medical note, remember that Florey and Chain developed mass-production of pencillin to heal soldiers with blood poisoing, and that Archibald McIndoe developed plastic surgery to help burned airmen (the 'guinea pigs').
There was a lot of emphasis on avoiding venereal disease amongst servicemen.

And don't forget the Beveridge Report (1942), although it was only implemented after the war.
Finally, there is a very detailed report on occupation health here.

The expert on this seems to be somepne called Dr Emma Newlands. there is a comment from her here on the treatment of wounded soldeirs.

[littlemissy]

There are Glow files on this, not sure if you'll need your login. I'll check tomorrow morning.

[walugi1105]

Hi, thanks for the info. I found this list of improvements for health on the internet - i just wanted to check if it was all correct:


During the war the government carried out a number of social reforms which
tried to improve the health and welfare of the nation:

• 1940: extra payments were made to the elderly to help them cope with rising prices.
  
• 
  1940: The Emergency Hospital Scheme meant that the government paid for the treatment of sick and injured civilians as well as military personnel.
  
• 
  A free immunisation scheme for diphtheria was introduced. This led to a dramatic fall in the number of deaths from the illness.
  
• 
  1941: extra high vitamin foods such as milk and orange juice were provided for mothers and young children.*** (Would this include rose-hip syrup???)***
  
• 
  School milk and meals were subsidised. The number of children taking school meals increased by more than ten times during the war.
  
• 
  1945: family allowances were agreed upon. Extra money was to be paid to families with two or more children.

Many Thanks</p>

[littlemissy]

Here's the link - you don't need your Glow login.

http://publicwebsite...ents/health.pdf

or copy paste this if it doesn't work http://publicwebsite...ents/health.pdf

The Gvt also set up special 'restaurants' (canteens) to ensure people were eating properly - there's stuff on the BBC on this topic. Rationing not only ensured that the food was shared out etc but also since 'bad' foods like sugar and red meat were rationed whilst folks were encouraged to grow and eat more veggies this made people healthier. These are all things the Govt actively did to promote health. There were many other things going on, not the direct result of Gvt intervention, that increased health such as developments in penicillin (above) and tetanus inoculations. The petrol rationing, Dig for Victory campaign and increased work commitments meant people were more active, which increased health. You could also argue that the bombing raids destroyed much old, unhealthy housing and led to the way for cleaner, healthier post-war housing, but again this is slightly away from your point.

You are highly unlikely to get a question specifically on health during WW2. Health questions are often linked in to housing or population. Hope this helps.

[MrJohnDClare]

And thank you, Miss 'Little Missy', for your invaluable expertise.

[littlemissy]

Sorry walugi, I'm not ignoring your posts, it's just that I'm replying before your new posts have been accepted by the moderators, so the timeline looks a bit funny! Yes, that's the right info from Glow you've got, and it all seems good. And yes, I'm pretty sure it included rose-hip syrup for children (well done!) and I think cod-liver oil. Not many schools do this time period so the Bitesize site etc doesn't cover the info. I was actually watching Horizon last night on the BBC and it was looking at research on calorie restriction and fasting with sufficient nutrients and how it seems to promote health - maybe we should bring back rationing ...

[walugi1105]

Thanks for helping - It has really cleared things up in my mind!!!

I was looking at my Leckie & Leckie revision book and it had info on the government and the miners during the 80s - I was just wondering how much depth we need to know the topic. Many Thanks

[littlemissy]

I don't have the book at home so can't have a look to see what angle it's taking - sorry. We do a different time period now so I haven't taught TUs for a long time and we didn't include the strike in our coursework back then. However, Leckie and Leckie are good books and if they include then it's for good reason. As an SQA marker I will say that the topic is on the role of TUs in 'changes in employment and in working conditions' so you would not be expected to give a narrative account of the strike. Without having seen the book I would say that you should know about the strike in terms of what the unions did and why, the shift in the power of the unions, the attitude of the Gvt to TUs and that the use of that action as a way of changing working conditions etc failed.

The Credit 2010 paper had a KU question on TUs, "Describe how trade unions tried to improve working conditions after 1880" and the marking instructions did not include the miners' strike so although it would be credited it makes me think it is still not 'core' knowledge unlike the General Strike or even the Match Girls' strike . You can look at the marking instructions online.

Sorry I'm not more use, but my opinion is that you don't need to know it in great detail but check with your teacher.

[littlemissy]

Incidentally, I remember marking the 2010 question "Describe how trade unions tried to improve working conditions after 1880" and that it was done very badly. This was mainly because of the confusion between 'how' and 'why' I've noticed more and more in young people. Many seem to use 'how' when they should say 'why' so they attempted to answer this as 'why did TUs ...'

[walugi1105]

Thanks for that - I have a couple more questions (sorry!!). My teacher gave us notes on the impact of immigration and emigration and it mentioned Lithuanian immigrants and people emigrating to Canada. I was just wondering, to make things clearer, when Lithuanians immigrated to Scotland and when the majority of people emigrated to Canada. Many Thanks!!