Healthcare in Wales

rdf:langString Healthcare in Wales

rdf:langString Healthcare in Wales is mainly provided by the Welsh public health service, NHS Wales. NHS Wales provides healthcare to all permanent residents that is free at the point of need and paid for from general taxation. Health is a matter that is devolved, and considerable differences are now developing between the public healthcare systems in the different countries of the United Kingdom, collectively the National Health Service (NHS). Though the public system dominates healthcare provision, private health care and a wide variety of alternative and complementary treatments are available for those willing to pay. The largest hospital in the country is usually the University Hospital of Wales hospital, however the temporary Dragon's Heart Hospital set up in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Wales was larger, and is the second largest hospital in the United Kingdom. Unlike in England, NHS prescriptions are free to everyone registered with a GP in Wales. Wales is the birthplace of the modern National Health Service, with the idea rolled out across the UK by the then-Health Minister Aneurin Bevan in 1948. Initially administered by the UK Government, since 1999 NHS Wales has been funded and managed by the Welsh Government.