A League of Their Own: Halifax Hospital League of Friends

Abstract

This article develops academic literature on the history of the Hospital League of Friends, using the Halifax League as a case study. The League of Friends of the Halifax Hospitals was one of the first Friends groups to be newly founded in the wake of the establishment of the National Health Service (NHS). At the outset, its predominantly middle-class membership and Conservative and Liberal lea dership sought to safeguard the perceived benefits of the voluntary hospital system within the new Service. By providing amenities and personal service they contributed strongly to the care provision in Halifax, particularly in the former Public Assistance Institutions used to house the elderly. In doing so, the group sought to maintain continuities between the previous period and the new National Health. This article charts their work during the first phase of the NHS (1948–1974) primarily using local newspaper sources to do so. It argues that the Friends offer a window into both middle-class opposition to the NHS in the early period, and into hospital care more widely.