Nationwide events are set to take place next weekend to mark the 72nd anniversary of the founding of the NHS. Tara Pilkington reports.
The NHS was originally founded on 5 July 1948 under the leadership of Labour health minister Nye Bevan.
This year, to commemorate the NHS’s 72nd anniversary, campaign groups including Keep Our NHS Public, Health Campaigns Together, the People’s Assembly Against Austerity and We Own It have united to mark this anniversary with the slogan “Our NHS deserves better.”
Mike Forster, the national chairman of Health Campaigns Together and the Hands off Huddersfield Royal Infirmary campaign, has said: “During the coronavirus crisis in 2020, NHS and social care workers have been called upon to work on the front line to keep us safe.
He added: “They have often had to work without proper resources and personal protective equipment within an already failing system… This is a damning indictment of recent government policy and its mishandling of our NHS. When we emerge from this deadly crisis, this can no longer be tolerated. This is also a critical moment when the systemic inequalities in our society are starker than ever.”
In a final comment, Forster said: “The NHS deserves better — we all deserve better.”
