The NHS, or National Health Service, of the UK was once upon a time viewed as a wondrous thing to behold. More recently it has taken somewhat of a bashing both in the UK and across the pond. Somehow or another the NHS has been portrayed in the USA as an example of why free health-care is a bad thing.

Now, as with all things in this life, the NHS is not perfect but I still believe it is a great institution and well worth protecting. Sure it may need to diversify in this the 21st Century but the alternative for me is unacceptable.

A little family history

I was born in 1952, when the NHS was relatively new and so have known nothing else all of my life. However I did have elderly relatives who remembered a time when health issues in the UK were not readily addressed, as the money needed was not always available to pay the necessary bill. These people were not layabouts I hasten to add. My old great aunt lived to be 89 and worked all over life. She actually did not retire until she was 68 years old. This feisty 4 foot 11 inch tall woman had little wealth in later life as she was generous to a fault. She lived her religious beliefs to the full.

However when she was younger this dear lady had always fought a running battle with money issues. She had been taken from school at the age of 12 when her mother had died. As the eldest girl of four children education for her was a luxury that the family could no longer afford.

Instead she was to be the home-maker come skivvy. With a father who would sometimes drink the week's wages before he even got home from work her task, at times, was to get to the pub and make sure that she got some money before he drank it all away. As the other guys would say "I would not have a chit of a lass carrying on like that" my aunt would stand her ground. If she did not the family would have little to live on all week.

When she was off an age to officially leave school, 14, the only work available for her was cleaning and so cleaning she did. As I have already said she worked until she was 68. However along the way her brother, my grandfather, lost his wife. My father aged about 3 at that time then came to live with my aunt and her younger sister. This lady would have been in her late twenties at that time.

Men were thin on the ground, as the first world war drew to a close, but of course, as she now also had the burden of a young child in tow there were few suitors beating a path to her door. Within a few years my grandfather remarried but for various reasons my Dad stayed with this Aunt.

She went on to have a life of struggle and hard work. She was always very religious having being brought up in Victorian England but became more so over the years. She was industrious and the type of person who would give you the coat off her back. This great aunt is the relative I have mentioned in another hub, who had all of her teeth extracted with no anaesthetic as it would have cost one shilling to numb the pain. My Grandfather was lost at sea, just before the Second World War, and so any money which had helped at one time disappeared.

Now, I have written this personal background to show why for me the NHS is a wonderful thing.

My family, in years gone by, worked like trojans. My Dad, born in 1917, served in the second world war out in Burma and India as an Infantryman and carried the mental scars for life. His health suffered and he developed cancer at the age of 55. He died within a few weeks. My mum, born in 1917, had ricketts as a child and had a brother who died when he was four. My mum had ill health throughout her life and suffered a major stroke at the age of 55. She lived until she was 58. The last three years of her life were spent in and out of hospital as she was semi-paralysed and unable to speak. My mum had been 52 when my dad died and so, although he had worked all his life, she had little disposable income when she was widowed. I was still at school when he passed away.

They were a god fearing, law abiding family who, but for the advent of the NHS in 1948, would have struggled to survive at all. In fact before this time they had being doing just that. The period of time that I was born into meant that I benefited from a good education and standard of health care.

Right, so I have not given you a brief family history, not as a sob story. It is just one of those "there but for the grace of god" sort of stories. I have actually left out some of the more upsetting incidents.

I have to say now though that I find some of the angry sentiments, I have heard and read from America, that have been expressed about a form of the NHS, disturbing to say the least, especially when aired by supposedly god fearing, christian citizens, but there you go.

This is my personal slant and so feel free to object but please be polite. After all healthy debate can often help sort out problems and issues. As they say the devil's in the detail.

THE NHS

As an adult my experiences of the NHS have been as a patient, a carer and as an employee. I worked for the NHS in various non-clinical roles for over 10 years.

The NHS has suffered from many negative impacts recently. These include such things as:-

• People's increased expectations. We cannot live forever but these days many people expect to.
• Increased technology. There are so many more treatments and diagnostics available than even twenty years ago. This is great news but increases the costs and demands on the health service.
• A period of underfunding some years ago left the NHS struggling. What was needed to turn it around was hefty investment. Despite this government's best efforts there is still work to do. Old Victorian buildings needed upgrading and in some cases demolishing.
• As attempts were made to cut waiting lists red tape and bureaucracy caused problems. Instead of people having access to vital surgery, because their case was urgent it was because of their ranking on a waiting list. The targets set by the government has created or added to some of these problems. However there is no easy answer but hopefully things are improving.
• Recent private investment has meant that new builds such as the Cardiology Hospital at Castle Hill Hospital have been completed. This build is an example of partnership with private investors. This is both good and bad. The good is that some superior new builds, such as the Cardiology Hospital at the Castle Hill Hospital have been completed. Check the link and see what can be provided by the NHS. However many fear that it is privatisation by the back door.

There are many initiatives and positive changes happening all of the time in the NHS these days. Sometimes this can cause problems. At times it is easy to feel that "If it's not broke, why fix it". However many of the changes will have positive impacts long term. Choose and book which will enable patients to choose that date and time of their appointment gives patients more control. It will also be possible to select the hospital of your choice.

In my city there is world class Cardiology, Oncology and Eye Surgery and Treatment available free to all. Of course there is also Hospital outpatient appointments, Ultrasound scans, X Rays, CT Scans, IVF treatment, Neuro surgery, general surgery and so much more, all free to all.

These hospitals are also teaching hospitals and have a good reputation. Yes they have problems. They are not in a nice rural setting but part of an inner city that has some deprived areas and a fair few problems. However I dread to think what would happen in such a city if we had no NHS.

Currently I work where the patients tend to be iover 80 and up to 100 plus years of age. Some have families but some have no-one, some have money but some do not. However all have proiblems. At least they do not have to worry about paying for their health care.

Of course if they are affluent and choose to "go private" they can do so. Usually they will still be treated by the same doctors but at a private hospital However if there are complications these patients will usually be transferred to the NHS hospital until such problems have settled. This is because these hospitals have all of the specialist equipement, staff and techniques necessary.

As we discover more and more ways of treating various illnesses, health care the world over will struggle to keep up. However if the UK keeps the NHS at least patients will not be excluded from reaping the rewards of such improvements just because they do not have a good income and or health insurance.

So back to my family.

If they had been around today, people such as my great aunt, mother and father should they have been deprived of the health care they so desperately needed just because circumstance and bad luck had left them less affluent than others?. I think not, and not just because they were my family.

Its nice to know that if, God forbid, I or a loved one has an accident, they can be taken straight to the Accident and Emergency department of our hospital and treat without having to have any insurance or money. Yes we all pay National Insurance from our salaries each week or month but that is a small price to pay for peace of mind for all.