OCR B GCSE: The People’s Health c.1250 to present

The OCR B GCSE History module The People’s Health c.1250 to present investigates how health and illness have shaped and been shaped by society over nearly 800 years of British history. It examines the changing experiences of health, disease, and medical care among different social groups, and considers how cultural beliefs, economic conditions, and state policies have influenced public health. The module also looks at the development of healthcare systems, the impact of epidemics and medical discoveries, and the role of political and social movements in improving health outcomes. Overall, students learn to analyse how ideas about health have evolved and how these changes have affected the everyday lives of ordinary people as well as the broader society.

What students need to learn:

• Medieval Britain c.1250–c.1500
  • The characteristic features of medieval Britain: an overview
  • Living conditions: housing, food, clean water and waste. 
  • Responses to the Black Death: beliefs and actions 
  • Approaches to public health in late-medieval towns and monasteries 
• Early Modern Britain c.1500–c.1750
  • Cultural, social and economic change including the growth of towns: an overview 
  • Changing living conditions: housing, food, clean water and waste 
  • Responses to outbreaks of plague including national plague orders and local reactions 
  • The impact of local and national government on public health including measures to improve the urban environment and the government response to the gin craze, 1660–1751 
• Industrial Britain, c.1750–c.1900
  • Industrialisation, the growth of major cities and political change: an overview 
  • Urban living conditions in the early nineteenth century: housing, food, clean water and waste
  • Responses to cholera epidemics
  • Public health reform in the nineteenth century including the Public Health Acts and local initiatives 
• Britain since c. 1900
  • Economic, political, social and cultural change: an overview
  • Living conditions and lifestyles: housing, food, air quality and inactivity
  • Responses to Spanish Influenza and AIDS
  • Growing government involvement in public health including pollution controls, anti-smoking initiatives and the promotion of healthy lifestyles