TY - JOUR T1 - Books: <em>The Dispensaries: Healthcare for the Poor Before the NHS: Britain’s Forgotten Health-care System</em> JF - British Journal of General Practice JO - Br J Gen Pract SP - 81 LP - 81 DO - 10.3399/bjgp17X689281 VL - 67 IS - 655 AU - George K Freeman Y1 - 2017/02/01 UR - http://bjgp.org/content/67/655/81.abstract N2 - Michael Whitfield AuthorHouse UK, 2016, PB, 270pp, £12.95, 978-1504997164This is a fascinating and unusual book exploring a widespread but now little known aspect of primary care that existed 200 years before our NHS began.Dispensaries started slowly. The first ran in London from 1696–1725 but more widespread adoption began from around 1770 and real expansion took place with Victorian philanthropy (and urban population explosion) in the mid- and late 19th century, spurred on by mid-century Poor Law reforms. We’re never told how many dispensaries there were in England, but there were over 100 in London by 1900 and over 1000 in Ireland by 1872.There were two main funding systems. The first and predominant relied on subscriptions, originally from rich individuals, but by the 20th century … ER -