One of the UK’s most important institutions, the NHS is celebrating its 70th birthday today. So what better time than to take a moment to appreciate the role the NHS and its extraordinary staff play in all of our lives.
The NHS was first created in 1948, but it was 6 years earlier when the idea was first presented by Sir William Beveridge in his report Social Insurance and Allied Services. After that, the idea began to take traction and was finally published and created under Minister for Health, Aneurin Bevan who was appointed during the 1945 general election. Bevan was quoted as saying, “This is the biggest single experiment in social welfare the world has ever seen”.
Over its 70 year history, the NHS has seen many changes, as well as highs and lows. It’s been the subject of much scrutiny and media attention at times and there have been many arguments to suggest it has failed on multiple occasions. However, one thing that can never be doubted is that as an institution it is made up of some of the most hardworking, caring people we have as a country. In every corner of the country, there are NHS doctors, nurses, administrative staff and more working as hard as possible, going without enough sleep, pulling extra hours where needed and anything else that’s asked of them.
There are only the eldest members of our society who will remember a time before the NHS existed, which is why it’s important we don’t take it for granted. There are many other countries out there where the price of healthcare is astronomical, the USA for example.
For that reason, we hope you’ll join us in wishing a happy 70th birthday to our NHS, and congratulations to all of its hard-working staff.
