TODAY marks the 75th anniversary of the formation of the National Health Service, ushering in a new era of universal healthcare free at the point of use.

The man at the heart of the new NHS, former coal miner and Ebbw Vale MP Aneurin Bevan, had vowed to set up the service after seeing first-hand the poverty, and experiencing the harshness of life, in early 20th-century industrialised South East Wales.

And it was an organisation from the region which played a pivotal role in Bevan’s blueprint for the NHS. The Tredegar Medical Aid Society once had more than 20,000 members and catered for the medical needs of more than 95 per cent of the town’s population.

In a statement often attributed to then-health minister Bevan, he reportedly said at the time of the NHS’ founding: “All I am doing is extending to the entire population of Britain the benefits we had in Tredegar for a generation or more.”

South Wales Argus: Aneurin Bevan, the founder of the NHS.Aneurin Bevan, the founder of the NHS.

As we celebrate this milestone, however, health leaders are shining a spotlight the problems facing the NHS in the 21st century, and urge reform if it is to be protected for future generations.

The NHS has over time become both a source of national pride and a political football over which parties squabble endlessly; many of its staff, hailed as Covid heroes during the coronavirus pandemic, now report ever-increasing pressures and have taken unprecedented strike action to try and secure better pay and working conditions.

In Wales, where health is devolved to the Welsh Government, the NHS has struggled to cope with a backlog in treatments and waiting lists, after coronavirus forced hospitals to postpone all but essential services.

Like the rest of the UK, the Welsh NHS has reported disappointing performance since the height of the pandemic for ambulance responses, accident and emergency waiting times, and cancer diagnoses.

South Wales Argus: PA file photo of staff on a hospital ward.PA file photo of staff on a hospital ward.

Public opinion is firmly behind protecting the NHS and securing its future, a recent opinion poll suggests.

Based on a sample of 2,000 people, pollsters estimated 85 per cent of the population believes the NHS is one of Britain’s finest achievements in history.

And 90 per cent said that even if they don’t use the NHS frequently, they feel better knowing it’s there, with 88 per cent say the NHS makes them proud to be British.

The Welsh NHS Confederation, which represents the nation’s health boards, said the 75th anniversary must be an “opportunity to start the public debate about the health and care system of the future”.

South Wales Argus: File photo of NHS staff on a ward.File photo of NHS staff on a ward.

“We know the public have an enduring faith in the NHS and its founding principles of providing care to all, free at the point of need,” the confederation said. “However, it’s a widely shared view that our health and care services are not sustainable in their current form.”

The confederation called for “an open and honest conversation with the public about what the future health and care service looks like…  centred on an NHS that is adequately and sustainably funded”.

Darren Hughes, director of the Welsh Confederation, added: “Change must happen, it’s simply not an option to stay as we are. We need to think about the future now.”