Like a much loved elderly relative, the National Health Service has endured more examinations and diagnoses than any other public institution.

When Bevan first launched it, he knew that there would never be enough money to meet the overwhelming need, and successive health ministers have used a variety of tactics to try to manage its chronic health problems.

Sally Sheard looks back at this intensely political organisation and asks Jeremy Hunt, the then Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, and longest serving, why health ministers rarely learn from history.

Producer: Beth Eastwood.