Happy 74th Birthday NHS

 

Nye Bevans legacy came into the world 74 years ago this morning, then Minister of Health in Attlee’s post-war government, when he opened Park Hospital in Manchester at a time of rationing and shortages, when we were nearly bankrupt, a jewel  that the war generation left us with, an amazing institution for us to all to continue to share.

Nye believed  that no society can legitimately call  itself civilised if a sick person  is denied medical aid  because of lack of means. The NHS encapsulates everything which Bevan stood for, and was the culmination of a life devoted to improving the lives of men and women across the country.https://teifidancer-teifidancer.blogspot.com/2019/11/happy-birthday-aneurin-bevan-15.html

For the first-time doctors, nurses, opticians, dentists and pharmacists all worked under one organisation. It was a ray of hope in that bleak time, and it remains one today. The creation of the NHS in 1948 was the product of years of hard work and a motivation from various figures who felt the current healthcare system was insufficient and needed to be revolutionised. 

Born in 1948 to a post-war Britain amidst the rubble of war and a skeptical medical profession, the NHS has had its ups and downs over the years. However, its role and importance as a symbol of our Britishness and intense pride in being able to provide universal care, free at the point of delivery, has remained throughout, out of the belief that healthcare should be available to all, regardless of wealth, with health and care as priorities – not profit, .these ideals remains one of the NHS’s core principles.

Aneurin Bevan, Minister of Health, on the first day of the National Health Service, 5 July 1948 at Park Hospital, Davyhulme, near Manchester. 

These ideas can be traced back to the early 1900s with the Minority Report of the Royal Commission on the Poor Law in 1909. The report was headed by the socialist Beatrice Webb who argued that a new system was needed to replace the antiquated ideas of the Poor Law which was still in existence from the times of the workhouses in the Victorian era. Those who were involved in the report believed it was a narrow-minded approach from those in charge to expect those in poverty to be entirely accountable for themselves. Despite the strong arguments provided in the report, it still proved unsuccessful and many ideas were disregarded by the new Liberal government.

Nevertheless, more and more people were beginning to speak out and be proactive, including Dr Benjamin Moore, a Liverpool physician who had great foresight and a pioneering vision of the future in healthcare. His ideas were written in “The Dawn of the Health Age” and he was probably one of the first to use the phrase ‘National Health Service’. His ideas led him to create the State Medical Service Association which held its first meeting in 1912. It would be another thirty years before his ideas would feature in the Beveridge Plan for the NHS.

Before the creation of the NHS or anything like it, when someone found themselves needing a doctor or to use medical facilities, patients were generally expected to pay for those treatments. In some cases local authorities ran hospitals for the local ratepayers, an approach originating with the Poor Law. By 1929 the Local Government Act amounted to local authorities running services which provided medical treatment for everyone. On 1st April 1930 the London County Council then took over responsibility for around 140 hospitals, medical schools and other institutions after the abolition of the Metropolitan Asylums Board.

The idea of a state-run health service was mooted at the Labour Party Conference in 1934 by the then president of the Socialist Medical Association, Dr Somerville Hastings. Then the Beveridge Report of December  1942 called for 'Comprehensive Health and Rehabilitation Services' and set the seeds for the creation of the NHS and the creation of the Welfare State. Winston Churchill's attitude was one of ambivalence and when two years after the Beveridge report and it had become Labour Party policy, he became markedly more hostile. It was then  Aneurin Bevan who wholeheartedly embraced  and made sure  the project was implemented and delivered  after he became health minister in 1945.

Born amidst the rubble of war, opposed by churches, charities and doctors – it was a ray of hope in that bleak time, and it remains one today. The free service, based on need, not what money you have, is something that has become cherished by generation after generation. Many see it as Labour’s greatest socialist achievement. Today, we have a lot to thank the NHS for; from the introduction of polio and diphtheria vaccinations to all under 15-year olds to the success of smoking cessation services and cancer screening services, the NHS has been instrumental in many of the medical achievements the UK has seen over the last 74 years,. a shining example of what separates us from the US. 

It offered for the first time a free healthcare system in the world that offered for completely free , healthcare that was made available on the basis of citizenship rather than the payment of fees or insurance. It has  since  played a vital role in caring for all aspects of our nations health. It has been the envy of the world ever since. I am reminded that my quality of life owes more to a dead man than  a whole Tory Government ever could ,so thank you Nye Bevan.

It wouldn’t be possible to run a 7-day NHS, caring for millions of people day-in-day-out without the hard work and dedication of its staff. Despite all the adversity that’s thrown at them: poor pay, bursary cuts, hospital parking fines and staff shortages to name a few; they continue to become stronger and relentlessly deliver fantastic healthcare to the nation .The recent pandemic have once again highlighted the strength, professionalism , dedication and bravery of our healthcare staff. It is truly inspiring to see how amazing the staff handled the awful situation and it was a testament to every healthcare worker throughout the UK. They are a credit to our nation and we couldn’t be more proud.

The NHS  here in Wales employs close to 72,000 staff which makes it Wales’ biggest employer.But dedicated, compassionate staff  are under increased pressure, leading to low moral. Recent figures have emerged that 2/4s of hospitals have been warned about dangerous staff shortages.

As the Tory's seek to dismantle it,  we should not forget Nye Bevan's words who said ' It will last as long as their are folk with enough faith to fight for it.

One can only imagine what Nye’s reaction would be to the current state of his beloved creation, where large bills for dental care are routine, optometry is fielded out to Specsavers, and the decades-long creeping privatisation of hospitals and primary care services has accelerated under the Covid-19 pandemic.

Far from “stuffing their mouths with gold” – as Bevan said of the doctors employed by the NHS at its inception – successive Westminster governments of the last decade have presided over cuts that have decimated the incomes of NHS workers. According to GMB Union, long-serving NHS nurses had by April 2021 suffered a real-terms pay cut of 16.3 per-cent - a loss of just under £6,000. Paramedics and experienced mental health nurses, meanwhile, had each lost just over £7,500.

The strain of these losses has been reflected in the news, with stories of nurses using foodbanks increasingly commonplace. and skipping meals in order to save money or feed their families, along with reports citing struggles with mental health and a poor work/life balance leaving  them stressed. tired and overworked. .The Government  has also come under fire  for the rise in waiting  times  for various treatments... 

On its birthday we should  join the call for fair pay for all NHS staff that they so  clearly  need and deserve- Public sector pay has been capped for too long. This is despite rising inflation and increased living costs.  It's not OK that NHS staff like nurses are resorting to food banks to get by and we  cannot reach the day again where people make a profit out of our sickness. The NHS is a shining example of how a caring society can create  good and safe care based on social solidarity., making such a great contribution towards social and health equality.  A beacon to the world.

Thank you to all of those who have worked and who are still working tirelessly to provide the best care to over 64 million people in the UK. putting our communities and patients first - which shine through in the dedicated work of our doctors, nurses and health workers every day. The last 74 years wouldn’t have been possible without them. It is currently though in real danger, under attack from those that want to privatise it, run it down and fragment it ;

When the  Government  inevitably put out celebratory tweets today remember  they  are privatising it and with American plutocrats turning their eyes on the NHS, it's more important than ever that we continue to defend it with all we've got, as the new Health and Care Act  will open the door to even more private companies  meddling in our healthcare system . We can't 'just lie down and accept this.,

In alarming news the Lancet the oldest medical journal on the planet  last week published a report showing the NHS outsourcing, otherwise known as privatisation, has caused a significant increase in preventable patient deaths This is due to healthcare services being of lower quality since private firms were allowed to provide them. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanpub/article/PIIS2468-2667(22)00133-5/fulltext 

Now that the latest Health and Care Act has come into law, re-organising the NHS again into new 'Integrated Care Systems', it's up to us to make sure that health leaders take this as an opportunity to put our lives before profits.

Remember those 40 'new  hospitals' Boris Johnson promised us in  2019. First it turned out he counted refurbs and upgrades. And now guess what, none of the first 6 will  be built  by the next election in 2024, just more  barefaced lies.https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/none-boris-johnsons-40-new-27396010 

The only genuine way to celebrate its 74^th birthday is to defend every service and roll back privatisation. Today, and everyday, we must keep fighting to protect this most special institution and the people working within it. Healthcare must work for people not profit and should be a  basic right for everybody and  should not be determined by your bank balance. We need to  kick out the private companies and  kick out private profit. Rebuild the NHS so it's fit for another 74 years..