Timeline: Britain's National Health Service turns 70

Britain's Sophie, Countess of Wessex, arrives for a service to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the National Health Service (NHS) at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, July 5, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

LONDON (Reuters) - Britain marks the 70th anniversary of the founding of the National Health Service on Thursday, a moment of pride and concern for a country that has nurtured its growth into the largest publicly funded healthcare service in the world.

Questions about whether the NHS can survive in its present form are the subject of a long-running British debate, given an aging population and increased costs due to advances in medicine and surgery.

Following is a timeline of key events spanning its history.

Britain's Secretary of State for Health and Social Care Jeremy Hunt arrives for a service to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the National Health Service (NHS) at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, July 5, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

1948

Health minister Aneurin Bevan launches the tax-funded NHS to bring medical services together and provide free healthcare to all.

Britain's Sophie, Countess of Wessex, arrives for a service to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the National Health Service (NHS) at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, July 5, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

1958

Polio and diphtheria vaccines become available to children under 15, leading to a major fall of cases in both diseases.

Britain's Shadow Secretary for Health, John Ashworth arrives for a service to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the National Health Service (NHS) at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, July 5, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

1959

The Mental Health Act recognizes for the first time that patients with mental health issues should be treated the same as those with other types of illnesses.

Britain's Sophie, Countess of Wessex, arrives for a service to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the National Health Service (NHS) at Westminster Abbey in London, Britain, July 5, 2018. REUTERS/Simon Dawson

1961

Kick-starting the "Swinging Sixties", the contraceptive pill is made widely available amid a major movement for women's liberation. The number of women on the pill rises from around 50,000 in 1962 to 1 million in 1969.

FILE PHOTO: Nurses prepare a bed on a ward at St Thomas' Hospital in central London January 28, 2015. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth/File Photo

1968

The Abortion Act becomes law, apart from in Northern Ireland, making termination legal up to 28 weeks if it is deemed to be in the best physical and mental interests of the patient.

FILE PHOTO: People walk away from the emergency department of the Royal London Hospital, in London, Britain May 5, 2018. REUTERS/Peter Nicholls/File Photo

1978

The world's first test-tube baby, a girl called Louise Brown, is born on July 25 thanks to in vitro fertilization.

FILE PHOTO: A doctor holds her stethoscope in an outpatients ward at a hospital in west London April 4, 2011.REUTERS/Toby Melville/File Photo

1986

The first advertising campaign in the fight against AIDS uses slogans such as "Don't die of ignorance" to raise awareness.

FILE PHOTO: An NHS sign is seen at St Thomas' Hospital in central London, Britain May 12, 2017. REUTERS/Stefan Wermuth/File Photo

1987

The world's first heart, liver and lung transplant is conducted in Cambridge.

1988

Free mammograms are offered in a bid to reduce breast cancer deaths among women over 50.

1994

The NHS Organ Donor Register is set up. More than 12 million people register by 2005, according to the NHS.

2005

A four-hour target for waiting times in hospital Accident and Emergency departments is made into an operational standard.

2009

The Care Quality Commission, a new regulator which will monitor health services, is launched.

2016

Junior doctors in England go on their first all-out strike, protesting at government plans for a new employment contract.

(Reporting by Megan Revell; Editing by Alison Williams)