The NHS at 70

As many of you will know, this week the NHS turned 70 years old. In this blog post I want to take a bit of time to reflect on the amazing work that the NHS does for those of us living in the UK and to give you a very brief overview of the history of this fantastic organisation; as well as what it has done for me, my family and friends.

In 1948 the government introduced a short cartoon named 'your very good health', which was done to explain to people at the time what the National Health Service was and how it would benefit them. The idea was that it would be 'free at the point of delivery' which means that you don't have to pay for any treatment you might receive at the time that you get it, and instead pay through the taxes that you pay through your National Insurance. It also meant that health services that were separate at the time, including hospitals, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, opticians, and dentists were brought together under one Act to provide one effective and low-cost service. This was beneficial to many as it meant that no one had to worry about not being able to afford healthcare to the point where some were avoiding going to hospital or to see a doctor so that they didn't have to pay with money that they didn't have. The birth of the NHS was a major milestone in British healthcare and through its course has been a part of some pretty major breakthroughs; such as mass vaccinations, organ transplants, IVF, keyhole surgery, cancer treatment, and advances in genetics and gene therapies to name just a few. 

So how has the NHS helped me?

Well, the NHS has helped me in a variety of different ways since birth. When I was born I had a number of different things that were wrong with me (the majority of which I'm not really too clear on). One thing that was probably the least important of these was that I had quite severe jaundice (which is quite common in newborn babies), which meant that I had to be put in an incubator with a special light in order to try and get rid of it. I also know that I was starved of oxygen when I was born, which is also another reason why I had to be put in an incubator, and it meant that my parents weren't able to have any contact with me for several days, as well as there being some uncertainty about whether I would survive the second that I was born. So for keeping me alive and now being a healthy 18 year old, I would like to say a massive thank you to the NHS staff that played such an important role in all of that.

Something else that the NHS helped me with was to help in preventing me from developing skin cancer. As anyone who has moles on their skin will know it is important to keep a close eye on them and if anything changes about them, such as their size, shape or colour, it is important to go to your GP and get it checked out. One day when I was about seven or eight my mum had noticed that a mole on my leg had started changing colour from brown to black so took me to see my GP so that he could look at it. He immediately referred me to my local hospital for some further checks, who then sent me on to another hospital who would be able to do the operation that was needed so these cancer cells couldn't spread or become more serious. Due to the early detectment of this and the fast response from the doctors and nurses, they were able to prevent anything serious from happening, and for that I would like to thank all of the NHS staff for what they did.

They also really helped me when I burned my hand after accidentally pouring boiling water straight from a kettle onto my hand when I was making a cup of tea. I had been refusing to go and get it checked out for several days because I do have a fear of hospitals and I was worried that they might have to do a scan or something that would show up something else that I didn't realise I had. However when I did eventually take myself to A&E, a nurse saw me after no more than two minutes of me waiting and I was out of A&E after about 20 minutes of the nurse sorting out my hand. After that I had to go back to my GP every other day to get my dressing changed and so that the nurse could check that the wound hadn't got infected (which luckily it didn't). The healing took just over a month and I'm still left with a few scars on my hand, but I would just like to say thank you to the nurses that treated me. I would also recommend going straight to A&E if you have a burn because my hand might not have got as bad as it did if I'd have gone to A&E straight away instead of waiting until I was forced to go by one of my teachers when they saw my hand (you will thank me for it later).

I would also like to thank the NHS for everything they have done in the past for my family and friends. Whether that's for keeping my friend alive when she was born a month before her due-date and her oesophagus hadn't formed properly, for the blood transfusions given to my mum in order to keep her alive, or for continuously giving treatment to my Gran (who is currently in hospital) and making sure that she (and all other patients) are treated with care and compassion.

I know that there is currently some doubt about what the future holds for the NHS, but I can only hope that that future is a brighter one and not one where the NHS is just a distant memory. I will be forever grateful to the NHS for all of the amazing work that it has done and continues to do. It doesn't matter what line of work anyone does who works for the NHS, whether they're a top surgeon, a nurse or a cleaner, just know that the work that you are doing is absolutely amazing and I don't think that you always receive the credit that you deserve. So keep working hard and doing what you're doing and here's to another 70 years of the NHS!

Love Beth xx