The Dirty War on the NHS

Gallery of press stills

  • Director John Pilger

  • Director John Pilger

  • Dr. Bob Gill, London GP and pioneering campaigner for a free NHS.

  • Tamasin Cave, Director of Spinwatch, and John Pilger, filmed on a tour of the offices of pro-NHS privatisation think-tanks and lobbyists that surround the Houses of Parliament.

  • It's sunrise at the county fairground in Wise Virginia, where Remote Area Medical has set up its clinics - offering free treatment. People wait for days, sleeping in their cars, then are given a number at sunrise. Here, they wait for their number to be called out.

  • Deadly Spin is Wendell Potter's best-selling book in the US, in which the former PR executive the health insurance giant, Cigna, turns whistleblower, and describes how millions of Americans can't get proper healthcare.

  • Wendell Potter, being interviewed by John Pilger.

  • Dr. Linda Peeno, a former medical director of the US health insurance giant, Humana, giving evidence before a Congressional committee hearing on 30 May, 1996 when she confessed to causing the death of at least one of many she had denied insurance cover.

  • Dr. Linda Peeno today, being interviewed by John Pilger

  • Dental chairs are laid out in the county fairground in Wise, Virginia, as Remote Area Medical sets up its free clinics, treating people with no hope of affording medical care outside.

  • Patients at Remote Area Medical's three day 'stop' in Wise Virginia, receiving free dental care.

  • Remote Area Media in Wise, Virginia - offering free dental care.

  • Dr. Joseph Smiddy, who runs the X-rays at Remote Area Medical's free clinics in Wise, Virginia.

  • David Coombe, the founder of Street Souls, which gives refuge and food to people near the Houses of Parliament, who the homeless, rough sleepers and those who are simply 'the victims of austerity'.

  • David Coombe in St Stephens Church, Victoria, London, where his organisation, Street Souls, gives food and refuse to 'the victims of austerity'.

  • Remote Area Medical's free X-ray clinics in the country fairground in Wise, Virginia.

  • A woman delighted to be at Remote Area Medical's extraordinary three-day free clinics in Wise, Virginia. This was the only way she could get medical care.

  • Volunteer dentists and dental students treating patients at Remote Area Medical's free clinics in the agricultural fairground at Wise, Virginia.

  • An illuminated signboard in the centre of Wise, Virginia, announcing the arrival of free clinics of Remote Area Medical (RAM).

  • A woman with untreated chest pains sees a volunteer cardiologist at Remote Area Medical's free clinins in Wise, Virginia.

  • John Watts, a volunteer with Street Souls, an organisation that cares for the 'victims of austerity' in the heart of London.

  • John Watts, a volunteer with Street Souls, an organisation that cares for the 'victims of austerity' in the heart of London. He is handing out a sleeping bag to rough sleepers in Victoria.

  • A woman waiting for treatment at Remote Area Medical's free clinics in Wise, Virginia. She tells John Pilger she is over a million dollars in debt from medical bills. She can't afford the price of a cheap hotel room and has to wait for the clinic to open, sleeping in her car.

  • This is the leaflet that announced the new National Health Service to the British people. It was delivered to every household in May, 1948 and announced that a free health service 'open to all, rich and poor', would begin on 5th July.

  • A woman and her husband waiting at sunrise for the free clinics of Remote Area Medical to to open in the fairground at Wise, Virginia. They had driven across the state after her shift in a gas station ended at 1.30 that morning. They told John Pilger they thought Trump would deliver a new deal in healthcare, 'but that didn't happen'.

  • Free glasses are handed out to people at St. Stephens Church in Victoria, London, where Street Souls, offers refuse to 'the victims of austerity'.

The NHS began with this leaflet to every British household, announcing that the world's first and biggest comprehensive free health service would begin on 6 July 1948.

Please click here or on the image to view the leaflet as pdf.