1910 Founding meeting in Montgomeryshire of the WNMA, King Edward VII Wales National Memorial Association for the Eradication of Tuberculosis

Description

Detail of the committee's notes of the welsh national memorial to King edward VII. In the document there is a motion of thanks with other key detail on the memorial (was a donation to the national library of wales)

The WNMA (Welsh National Memorial Association) was the first ever 'national health service' pilot in the UK, focusing on TB (Tuberculosis) in Wales. The WNMA was set up in 1910 by David Davies (later Lord Davies of Llandinam), John Tomley CBE, Sir David Rocyn Jones CBE, and others.

Through the findings of the WNMA’s work, as well as John Tomley’s work as a local health commissioner and UK leader of the largest health service providers - the Friendly Societies - they campaigned for effective treatment for TB, including prevention and a national health service.

John successfully led the campaign for the government’s Welsh TB Inquiry, which led directly to the Beveridge Report and the founding of the full NHS and wider welfare state in 1948. The WNMA’s doctors’ evidence, in the form of John’s statistics, convinced the government of the existence of the Five Giants in the Beveridge Report, and how it is vital to fight all the Five Giants at once in order for people to achieve longer and healthier lives.

The WNMA became the transitional authority for NHS Wales, which meant it effectively became NHS Wales when the full NHS was set up in 1948. The WNMA’s headquarters at the Temple of Peace & Health in Cardiff became NHS Wales’ first headquarters. All the WNMA’s activities, including hospitals and clinics across Wales, as well as their staff and patients, were transferred to NHS Wales.