When I was born the National Health Service was just a month
shy of its first birthday. I was duly registered and given an NHS number which
has stayed with me all my life, until more recent changes in record keeping were
brought about by a much more modern digital technology.
What a wonderful service it has been too. Obviously, one can
only speak from one’s own experiences, and mine have been typical in most ways,
and yet untypical in others. My father died when I was in my early teens, my
mother when I was in my thirties. Whilst both were cared for by the National
Health Service, sadly neither of them saw the benefits of a modern service such
as we have today. The same must be said for at least two of my late brothers. I
however, have been helped tremendously by a much more up to date service that
has quite frankly saved my life twice, the first time unquestionably, the
second time quite probably. My wife has been helped greatly too by our health
service, as have my beloved children, where even now the benefit is being felt.
My family is just one of many in this country that has
reaped major benefits from the wonderful carer that is the National Health
Service, our glorious NHS. It is the envy of the world. Indeed people come from
all over the world to absorb some of its beneficence and get well.
So I ask this. Why is this current government doing so much
to undermine what is a part of the very fabric of our society? Why did the last
Not-Real-Labour government do so much in that direction too…PFI (need one say
more?)?
