60th Anniversary of Labour Founding the NHS
This week marks the 60th Anniversary of the founding of the NHS. The Labour Party is rightly proud of the founding principles of the NHS, paid for by taxation, and free at the point of need. In the last ten years investment in the NHS has trebled to £100 billion. This has paid for 38,000 more doctors, 80,000 more nurses, over a hundred new hospitals, new community health centres and the shortest waiting times since records began.
This week’s celebrations are being marked by politicians of all sides. It’s a far cry from the original parliamentary debates in 1948, when the Conservatives fought tooth and nail against the creation of the NHS.
As recently as their 2005 manifesto, the Conservatives proposed channelling tax payer’s money into paying for people to use private health care. The stream of public money away from the NHS would have come to about £3bn a year. They offered “healthcare that today only money can buy”. But the whole point of the NHS, which they still don’t grasp, is that in the UK top quality healthcare should be available to everyone, no matter what their financial status.
As the Regional Minister, I took part last February in the launch of the region’s first Healthcare Strategy. The publication last week of the regional health profile figures for the year showed improvements in life expectancy for the North East, and a fall in early deaths caused by smoking and cancer. Public health, and encouraging people to live healthier lifestyles, are important challenges for the well-being of our region.
I believe it is important for general practitioners, healthcare professionals, and local communities to work together on these important public health issues, and more generally on the provision of primary health care. The best way we can celebrate 60 years of the National Health Service is to treasure it, not lose sight of the founding principles, to invest in it, and to give it the care that we expect it to give us.