That is what happened after the 2nd World War when National Health Service (NHS) was born on 5 July 1948. The idea of the NHS was led by the then minister of health Aneurim Bevan. It was a Labour government and the Prime Minister was Clement Attlee. I happen to be a Trustee of a charity called Attlee Centre set up in his memory.
Today the NHS is the largest employer in the country with around 1.5 million employees. The NHS costs us around £140 bn per year representing 9.7% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This is huge by any world standard.
The NHS has become the jewel in the crown and an envy of the world. When we look back, this was a good outcome from the World War II? I wonder what will emerge out of the Covid 19 crises.
The NHS is the lowest common denominator for the care of the whole society. Every citizen can expect the best health care no matter which section of the society he or she comes from. Good healthy nation means good healthy economy!
The current crises have re emphasised the importance and value of NHS to all of us. Many of us would be more than willing to pay extra taxes for a good NHS. This also highlights the fact that future wars that will be fought will be biological such that the importance of the army and navy will diminish. Let's face it: the fight against Corona is being fought by the NHS which is in the frontline.
Yes, we can always complain about the NHS. Many find it cumbersome and slow. It has also not seen the progress in productivity as has happened elsewhere. We have seen glaring gaps between the health and social services as the system is not joined up as it should be. The digitisation and progress in clinical work has been noticeably slow.
Remarkably, the Covid-19 challenges have suddenly knocked down a number of barriers. The digitisation process along with the advanced application of AI (artificial intelligence) have played a strong role. What was considered not quite possible is now becoming possible. We have seen virtual consultations with GP’s and consultants. People are learning and accepting that physical meetings with fair amount of travelling are not required or necessary. Doctors are able to process lot more appointments than before. The clinical tests time period of around 8 years are reducing down to 8 months. Traditional bureaucratic checks and hurdles are getting challenged and removed. All this will improve the productivity within the NHS system.
When you hear of stories like I heard from community veterans like Shri Mohanbhai Jobanputra who is 93 years young, it all brings it down to the elements. To him, the NHS is God’s gift and he feels we are so blessed and privileged to have this service in the UK. All his blood checks are done by nurses making personal visits to him. He gets regular and timely calls from the health service to check how he is feeling, which sometimes close family and friends are unable to do. There must be many others who also get the same service.
Our NHS is really special, and we can only be proud of it. We have shown our appreciation every Thursday and many of us have also donated for the well-being of their staff. NHS cares for us and we care for NHS
