Welcome to this deck on Medicine in Modern Britain, covering the period from 1900 to the present day. In previous eras, progress was often slow. But the 20th century saw an explosion of scientific and technological change that transformed medicine. We'll explore how our understanding of disease deepened to include genetics and lifestyle, how the creation of the NHS revolutionised healthcare, and how new 'wonder drugs' like penicillin saved millions of lives. We'll also examine key case studies, always thinking about how you can use this knowledge to build top-grade exam answers.

At the start of the 20th century, the Germ Theory was the dominant explanation for disease. But scientists soon realised it wasn't the full picture. The breakthrough came in 1953 with the discovery of the structure of DNA. This unlocked the field of genetics, revealing that many diseases are inherited or have a genetic component. At the same time, research began to show clear links between people's habits—their diet, exercise, and whether they smoked—and their health. These are known as 'lifestyle factors'.