Woking Nuffield Nursing Home

A nurse and patient in a typical hospital room at the new private Nuffield Nursing Home in Woking, England, complete with television set, circa 1962. With the serious overcrowding in State Hospitals, more and more people are paying for private treatment. The non-profit-making British United Provident Association covers its members for private health treatment, but by 1956 the shortage of beds was so acute that private patients often had to go into public wards. So the Association set aside funds to build new hospitals and to improve the facilities in existing private wards and nursing homes. One such hospital is the just-opened Woking Nuffield Nursing Home, built to relieve the inadequate hospital facilities in the Woking area. It has a staff of thirty nurses, looking after the thirty beds, and is complete with operating theatre and X-ray equipment. This is one of seven such hospitals in the country. Any doctor may use them, and any patient whether they are a member of BUPA or not. A private patient can also choose the specialist or surgeon he wants, whereas National Health patients must take what they're given. And for private patients treatment is much quicker, although the National Health Service is just as quick where the case is urgent. (Photo by John Drysdale/Keystone Features/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)