Health, the Distribution of Health Services and Poverty in Wales1

State intervention in the provision of health care in Britain is by no means simply the product of the National Health Service Act of 1946; on the contrary, the development of public health legislation is one of the central features of nineteenth-century urban history, whilst national health insurance was first introduced in 1911. In performing these tasks, we shall for the most part be dependent upon the official health statistics. The difficulties of using data of this kind are well known. Health in Wales has been worse than in other parts of Britain for at least the past hundred years. Of course, Wales, in common with Britain as a whole, has improved enormously during this period in terms of the average life expectancies and mortality rates of its population. Finally, the standard mortality rates from accidents — and especially for those other than motor vehicle accidents — are generally higher in Wales.