NHS 75 Year Anniversary - Looking Back/Looking Forward

Editorial by Togay Koç, O2 Editor

The NHS will celebrate its 75th anniversary in July. Much has changed since its launch on the 5th of July 1948 but some things have not. 

The Beveridge Report on which the NHS was incepted stated society's five 'Great Evils': want, disease, ignorance, squalor and idleness. We have fought these 'Great Evils' by delivering life changing surgery through ever smaller incisions to a growing population while shortening lengths of in-hospital stay. We use the assistance of robotics to increase the accuracy of our saw cuts, artificial intelligence to increase the accuracy of our diagnoses and virtual reality to help train for new procedures. 

Since its beginning the NHS budget has increased by an order of magnitude, yet it is underfunded.  It is the 5th largest employer in the world, yet it is understaffed. 3/4 of its staff are women, yet females are underrepresented in key roles and boards. Trainee work hours have halved, yet junior doctor morale is at an all-time low. 

The fight against the 'Great Evils' will continue. We fight them for our patients. We fight them for our NHS. However we must fight forward, not back.

A series of articles contributed by our members can be found below.