Next week it will be 75 years since the National Health Service was created by a man from Gwent.

Tredegar-born Aneurin Bevan created the service amid a mood that things had to change for the working classes following the Second World War.

Bevan took great inspiration from the Tredegar Medical Aid Society, which was formed following a merging of several societies in the town and provided medical care for members and later non-members.

Bevan himself said: "All I am doing is extending to the entire population the benefits we had in Tredegar for a generation or more. We are going to Tredegar-ise you."

It is remarkable that this cherished institution has endured in the UK despite it being presided over by Tory governments for the vast majority of those years. Thanks to the Tories, those intervening years have seen so many public institutions sold off to the private sector to the detriment of the quality and value of that service.

The NHS has somehow survived. Perhaps the reason for this is the special place it has in the hearts of so many. Most families will have a personal experience of when the NHS came up trumps for them or a family member in their hour of need. I am one of those people.

The uproar that an overt move to privatise the NHS would be so great that it would be political suicide. That is not to say that we should be complacent. An article in the medical journal The Lancet found that the outsourcing of services to for-profit companies in the English NHS, increased between 2013–20. This corresponded with a significant increase in the rates of treatable mortality.

Wales is not immune to services being taken up by the private sector unfortunately.

I recently picked up some case work from a man who needs his ears syringed every year to prevent infections and has to suddenly pay for this service after years of it being free.

The best way we can mark the 75th anniversary is to vow to remain true to the principles that underpinned the NHS from the beginning – treatment free from private companies and free at the point delivery. No ifs and no buts.

We should also ensure that NHS staff receive the pay and conditions they deserve if we are to reward and protect the best thing about it – the people that make it run day-in, day-out.