Funded mainly by public taxes, the NHS is only just hanging on in there in that nursing home having been lied to by the likes of former UKIP leader Nigel Farage and robbed of the family silver by successive health secretaries.
#happybirthdayNHS — 68 years young!
— NHS England (@NHSEngland) July 5, 2016
Discover the history of the #NHShttps://t.co/xzYq2KDDRK @NHSChoices #NyeBevan pic.twitter.com/VxFtObeXMU
Oh, remember that US$350 million per week that the NHS was set to receive if the UK left the European Union? Well that was a total lie — made up by the Leave campaign.
And its poor old knees are buckling under the strain due to its founding principle, free for all at the point of delivery, when it was born, on 5 July 1948.
The anti-immigrant rhetoric has piled on pressure saying it's bursting at the seams because too many EU and non EU migrants have access to Britain's free healthcare system — but rarely is it mentioned that Britain's obesity crisis is also putting a heavy strain on the NHS.
And it was with weighted irony that the opening ceremony for the London Olympics in 2012 was dedicated to the NHS and its nurses.
A picture of Health by Sketchaganda #JuniorDoctors #JuniorDoctorsStrike #Juniorcontract #JeremyHunt #NHS https://t.co/JTjFHPAOW8
— thurrock lies (@mrplannings) June 28, 2016
And the NHS only just narrowly escaped inclusion in the Transatlantic Trade Investment Partnership (TTIP) after doctors voted in favor of pushing the Government to drop health and social care from the controversial trade agreement between the EU and the US. The little old lady in the nursing home could relax — but not for long.
.@David_Cameron
— People's NHS (@PeoplesNHS) May 28, 2016
VICTORY but we must ensure @UKTradeMinister takes #NHS Out of #TTIP as promised!@Number10gov pic.twitter.com/cXo6KlrCe1
Next, junior doctors decided to strike — for the first time in NHS history. Angry at the government's new contract, the British Medical Association (BMA) was left with little choice but to ballot its members for strike action.
Sixty-eight years on, and Britain's health care system remains a cherished old lady, sitting in a nursing home, who still doesn't judge how much money you have, or where you come from.
Doctors argued the contract would put patients more at risk; the government accused the doctors of lying. Apparently doctors didn't have much public support — but that depends on which newspaper you read in Britain. Like the nice old lady in the nursing home — the majority of the public in Britain cherishes the NHS and support the junior doctors who have voted to reject the contract.
I was born in an NHS Hospital on this day in 1984, and since then the NHS has been there whenever I've need it — #HappyBirthdayNHS #loveNHS
— Andrew Jenkins (@CllrJenkins) July 5, 2016
However, on July 5 2016, the UK says happy 68th birthday to the NHS and a big thumbs up to Labour politician Nye Bevan who created what has become, a very British institution and a national treasure.
We must be very careful how we treat #NHS and be very vigilant. It is our national treasure that needs to be protected & never abused
— St Albans DYS (@stalbansdyo) July 5, 2016
The NHS was founded #otd 1948, thanks to the efforts of Nye Bevan #HappyBirthdayNHS https://t.co/ck3hrmdX6q pic.twitter.com/s3vhkecSEg
— English Heritage (@EnglishHeritage) July 5, 2016
