The National Health Service offers free treatment to patients, yet it often comes under heavy criticism. Suruchi Sharma revisits a time when healthcare had to be paid for.

Getting to hospital has never been an easy task for people living in Borehamwood and the surrounding area.

Barnet Hospital, in Wellhouse Lane, Barnet, and Watford General Hospital, in Vicarage Road, Watford, are the two nearest.

“It was Labour who brought in the NHS which helped many people, but Borehamwood simply was not big enough to have its own hospital,” said Mary Hanson, volunteer at Elstree and Boreham Wood Museum, in Drayton Road.

She added: “There were three main doctors who served the area including Dr Neil, who was my GP in Theobald Street. There was also Dr Wynter who had a famous actress daughter called Dana Wynter who I went to school with when she lived in the area. One of the only times when I went to Barnet Hospital was when I broke my wrist at 12 years old on my roller skates. I remember doctors were very well respected at that time.”

Dave Armitage, 64, volunteers at Elstree and Boreham Wood Museum and recalls the time when the NHS did not exist.

He said: “Before 1948, you had to for a doctor to treat you. When I was about two years old you had to pay about half a crown, which is about two-and-a-half pence.

“Back then not many people went to hospital and often minor operations were done at your GP surgery. Barnet Hospital used to be called Wellhouse Hospital and I remember a lot of women went to Bushey Maternity Hospital, in Heathbourne Road.

“The life expectancy was not more than 60 years old so the health service did not have to cope with many elderly people.

“Doctors were pillars of the community and people were almost scared of them in a way.

“It could have been in a similar way that people are now scared of what the dentist will charge you so they go without treatment.”

There were three mental health hospitals in the area including Shenley Hospital, in Radlett Lane, Shenley, which opened in 1931; Harp-erbury Hospital, in Harper Lane, Shenley, opened in 1925; and Napsbury Hospital, in Shenley Lane, near Lon-don Colney, opened in 1898.

Hertfordshire historian Chris Reynolds said: “All the big mental health hospitals have now closed. It was good to have hospitals like this because often in small villages or towns the mentally ill would be kept in the area and considered what then was called village idiots.

“The institutions started appearing in the early 1800s, which was helpful but not in all cases.

“When a lot of the old institutions closed down in the Eighties, many women in their 60s or 70s were found to have been there for years, simply because they got pregnant without marrying.”