Infirmary staff celebrate 65th birthday of the NHS

65th birthday of the NHS

Today (5 July) is the 65th anniversary of the NHS.

NHS staff from across the country plan to hold celebrations to mark the occasion but many trade unions are using the day to also highlight the fact that recent and ongoing changes could signal new dangers including increased privatisation and more cuts in care. More changes announced this week refer to proposals to charge non-EU patients for emergency care.

NHS Staff from the Rochdale Infirmary are expected to join in lunchtime celebrations outside the Main Entrance to the Royal Oldham Hospital to highlight their own concerns about further service changes. Members of the public are being urged to attend.

Liz McInnes, Unite Branch Secretary at the Pennine Acute Hospitals Trust said, “On Friday 5 July we celebrate the 65th birthday of our NHS.

"Talking to people who were around before the NHS was founded in 1948 they vividly remember visits every week from the 'doctor’s man' who would come to collect their shilling to pay for their medical treatment. Folk who couldn’t afford to pay just went without. The NHS changed all that. Nye Bevan’s vision of healthcare for all free at the point of need was realised.

"Yet under this Coalition Government, our NHS, which is the jewel in this country’s crown, is being undermined and steadily privatised. NHS funding which should be going into patient care is instead going into the pockets of shareholders. Services are shrinking and waiting lists are growing. Although the Government say that they have protected NHS funding, in reality our hospitals are having to make millions of pounds worth of savings which can only have a detrimental effect on patient care.

"I hope that on Friday, when we hold a celebration of our NHS outside the Royal Oldham Hospital, that the affection and respect that the public have for our NHS will be apparent.

"Nye Bevan said that the NHS will survive as long as there are folk with the faith to fight for it. Unite the union are up for that fight and we hope to take the public with us too.”