Labour created the NHS

Nearly 60 years ago, Labour created the NHS. It was born from a society where healthcare was exclusive, expensive and unavailable for many ordinary people. To most citizens, illness meant desperation, destitution and suffering with thousands dieing from diseases such as pneumonia, meningitis, tuberculosis, diphtheria and polio because they could not afford proper treatment. Britain needed a system that provided healthcare to all of its public, free at the point of treatment, based on need and not the ability to pay. 

It was the Beveridge Report that demonstrated the need for universal healthcare and it was the Labour Government that made it a reality. Despite opposition the NHS was finally launched in 1948. Through the early years, times were tough but the NHS helped the British people cope with the new post-war society. For the first time ever hospital services, family practitioner services (doctors, pharmacists, opticians and dentists) and community-based services were available to the public for free under one organisation.

Since those first years, the NHS has proved itself vital to the British people. It has been a source of confidence to the people as they know that they will receive the best possible treatment regardless of their finances. The NHS became a symbol of freedom from fear and of a government on the people’s side.

But... the Tories wrecked it

In 1979, the new Tory government spelt disaster for the NHS. The Tories viewed the NHS not as a health service, but safety net providing only the most basic care. The Tories underinvested in the NHS, they cut around 60,000 acute and general hospitals beds and waiting times massively increased and millions of people received inadequate treatment. This came as no surprise as the Tories had opposed the introduction of the NHS and had failed to prioritise it ever since.  Their disastrous performance in running the NHS lead it to be one of the worst performing healthcare providers in the Western world.

Despite the best efforts of its doctors and nurses, working in poorly equipped and crumbling building, the NHS was unable to meet the growing demands of a longer-living population and medical advances. Patients were waiting up to 18 months for necessary operations, and some patients were left in hospital corridors on trolleys.  The poorest people received the poorest treatment and the British people no longer felt as secure as they had been.

Labour saved it

When Labour inherited the NHS from the Tories in 1997 it was in a sorry state. A major lack of investment and care saw a shortage of doctors and nurses, crumbling, ill equipped hospitals and waiting lists up by 400,000 from 1979. The NHS was on it’s knees.

When Tony Blair said, “we’ve got 24hrs to save the NHS” he meant it. To save the NHS, it required massive investment, commitment and support from NHS staff.  Labour Party is the party of the NHS, that has delivered an NHS that is saving more lives, treating more patient and is quicker than ever before. Discuss
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