The AQA GCSE History unit Britain: health and the people, c1000 to the present day is a thematic study of how medicine and public health developed in Britain over roughly a thousand years. You need to understand ideas about the causes of disease, how treatment and prevention changed, and the factors that drove progress, including government, war, religion, science and technology.
It is examined with a mix of source questions and essay questions, including a question that asks about change and continuity across the whole period. The best answers show how individual discoveries, such as germ theory and penicillin, built on the work of earlier people and were made possible by wider factors.
In medieval Britain, ideas about disease were dominated by the theory of the four humours, inherited from Hippocrates and Galen and promoted by the Church. People also believed disease was caused by miasma, or bad air, or by God as a punishment. Because the Church controlled education and taught that the body was sacred, anatomy and surgery made little progress. Treatment was mostly carried out by apothecaries, barber-surgeons and wise women, using herbal remedies, prayer and bloodletting. Medieval towns passed some laws to keep streets clean, but public health was poor and there was little effective prevention.
The Renaissance brought new ways of thinking. Andreas Vesalius proved Galen's anatomy was wrong by dissecting human bodies, William Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood, and Thomas Sydenham encouraged doctors to observe patients and classify diseases. The printing press spread these ideas across Europe. However, most people still believed in the four humours and miasma. When the Great Plague struck London in 1665, people responded with quarantine, fires and herbal remedies rather than a scientific understanding of disease.
The 18th century saw Edward Jenner develop the first smallpox vaccine in 1796. The 19th century was a turning point. The growth of industrial cities created terrible living conditions, and Edwin Chadwick's 1842 report on the sanitary condition of the labouring population led to the Public Health Act of 1848. John Snow identified contaminated water as the cause of cholera in 1854. In 1861 Louis Pasteur published the Germ Theory, and Robert Koch identified specific bacteria, such as those causing tuberculosis and cholera. Joseph Lister introduced antiseptic surgery in the 1860s and James Simpson had used chloroform as an anaesthetic in 1847, transforming surgery from a race against pain and infection into a safe operation.
The 20th century built on these foundations. Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928 and Florey and Chain turned it into a usable drug in the 1940s. The discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953 led to genetics and targeted medicine. The National Health Service, founded in 1948, made treatment free at the point of use for everyone in Britain. New technology, including CT scanners, keyhole surgery and vaccines, has transformed prevention and treatment, while government campaigns have tackled smoking, diet and public health. The biggest theme of the modern period is the shift from treating disease to preventing it.
c1000-1500 – Medieval medicine: four humours, miasma and the Church dominate
1543 – Vesalius corrects Galen's anatomy
1628 – Harvey discovers the circulation of the blood
1665 – The Great Plague of London
1796 – Jenner develops the smallpox vaccine
1842 – Chadwick's Report
1847 – Simpson uses chloroform
1848 – Public Health Act
1854 – John Snow and cholera in London
1861 – Pasteur's Germ Theory
1860s – Lister and antiseptic surgery
1928 – Fleming discovers penicillin
1948 – The NHS is founded
1953 – Discovery of the structure of DNA
Use the free AQA Britain: health and the people revision checklist to track the whole course. The GCSE Elite Series materials for AQA cover the key individuals, ideas and factors with model answers and video tutorials on the exam-style questions, including the change and continuity essay. For 1-to-1 help, Nick Morgan tutors this module online with a free first lesson — book it here.