In November 1973, Hatfield and the North and Gilgamesh performed two exceptional concerts in London as one octet, performing (in addition to their respective sets) special arrangements by Gilgamesh's leader, Alan Gowen. These performances were the seed for National Health, founded in July 1975 by Gowen and Hatfield keyboardist Dave Stewart. The initial plan was to create a rock orchestra, with double guitars, double keyboards, bass, drums, and three female vocalists. This was almost done, with an eight-piece line-up comprised of Phil Miller and Phil Lee (guitars, ex-Hatfield and Gilgamesh respectively), Dave Stewart and Alan Gowen (keyboards), Mont Campbell (bass, ex-Egg, Stewart's earlier band), Bill Bruford (drums, ex-Yes and King Crimson) and Amanda Parsons (vocals, formerly a third of the Northettes, Hatfield's backing vocalists).

The newborn line-up spent the rest of 1975 rehearsing, eventually recording a demo tape at Pathway Studios at the end of the year, with two tracks, "Zabaglione" (by Campbell) and "The Lethargy Shuffle and the Mind-Your-Backs Tango" (by Stewart). Both recordings appear on the "Missing Pieces" CD, released in 1996.

In February 1976, a tour of Britain was undertaken. Unfortunately, Phil Lee left shortly beforehand and had to be replaced by Steve Hillage (the band eventually dispensed with a second guitarist); and Amanda Parsons was ill with flu and missed most of the dates. On the 17th, a BBC 'Top Gear' session was recorded, with "Paracelsus", "Agrippa" (both composed by Campbell) and "The Lethargy Shuffle, Part 2" (by Stewart). After the tour, Bruford left to play with Genesis on their world tour, and was replaced by John Mitchell, who stayed for several months but ended up playing just one gig, at Louveciennes in France).

Shortly thereafter, Mont Campbell also left, and his compositions were dropped from the band's repertoire. Gowen asked his ex-Gilgamesh colleague Neil Murray to step in for him, while Bruford returned to the band for more gigs and one more 'Top Gear' recording, "Clocks and Clouds", a beautiful song in the Hatfield tradition, beautifully sung by Amanda Parsons. But gigs were few, and Bruford, who was then attempting to form an all-star trio with Rick Wakeman and John Wetton, eventually left for good by the year's end, after a further UK tour.

And who should replace him but good old Pip Pyle? Since Hatfield's split, Pip had mostly played jazz as a freelance musician, and was happy to join his old mates again. Another tour was then undertaken, but Parsons and Gowen soon decided to leave. By coincidence, the band were offered the opportunity to record an album (Virgin had refused to sign them, and no other label seemed interested, so this piece of news came as a great relief).

Sessions took place from late March onwards, with guest participation from Gowen and Parsons as well as Jimmy Hastings (flute and clarinet) and John Mitchell (percussion). The album consisted of Gowen and Stewart compositions, and was a testament to this initial period of National Health's existence. The band was now reduced to a more conventional quartet line-up, quite far from Stewart and Gowen's very ambitious 1975 plans... In some of their concerts and radio sessions from mid to late 1977, the band were augmented with various guest musicians, including Richard Sinclair on vocals (who for instance sang on a BBC recording of "A Legend In His Own Lunchtime", a Pip Pyle composition which was later renamed "Binoculars"), and a wind section featuring Lindsay Cooper of Henry Cow and Jimmy Hastings among others.

In January 1978, Neil Murray left to join the heavy-metal band Whitesnake (starting a very successful career as session and live musician), and was replaced by John Greaves, who between 1969 and 1976 had been a core member of Henry Cow, playing bass, piano and singing in a 'British' style not totally dissimilar to Richard Sinclair's. The band then embarked on an intensive European tour. A long tour of Britain opening for Steve Hillage (now a star in his own right) coincided with the release of the debut album on Charly Records, but proved to be a financial disaster. The band was nonetheless back in the studio during the summer to record its follow-up, "Of Queues And Cures", with guest appearances by Jimmy Hastings and Georgie Born (Greaves' replacement in Henry Cow - she also played cello) among others.

This second album returned to a more experimental style, although different from the early days of the band. John Greaves' "Squarer For Maud", part of which was improvised in the studio, was a good example of this new direction, while Miller's superb "Dreams Wide Awake" and Stewart's tricky "The Bryden 2-Step" were more in the tradition of earlier efforts.

In September 1978, Georgie Born joined National Health along with Lindsay Cooper (Henry Cow had just split up for good), but after promising rehearsals, this sextet line-up split up because of Dave Stewart's sudden decision to leave. Stewart was dissatisfied both with the evolution of the band towards more improvisation and with the bad organisation and cancellations of gigs at short notice. He went on to work with Bill Bruford in his band Bruford, recording two studio albums.

After a two-year absence, Alan Gowen rejoined National Health to replace him, but the remainder of the band's career would not see any recordings, and after a few more tours in Europe (spring 1979) and the States (late 1979), the four musicians went their separate ways in March, 1980, just days after returning from a Scandinavian tour.

When Alan Gowen died of leukaemia in May 1981, Phil Miller (who had kept working with him since National Health's demise) reformed the band (with Stewart back in the line-up) for a small series of concerts and a tribute album comprising previously unreleased Gowen compositions as well as two Gilgamesh covers, "D.S. Al Coda". Stewart and Greaves went on to successful pop careers, while Miller and Pyle kept playing together, notably in In Cahoots and Short Wave. Miller and Stewart have since collaborated again on electronic-based pieces (on Miller's first two solo albums and one track on the "Complete National Health" CD).