If we lose the NHS, we'll lose a vital part of our nation

IT SEEMS a lifetime away now, that balmy, surreal spring evening in 2020 when the nation first took to the doorsteps to clap the NHS and care workers as the first lockdown began

It's easy to be cynical about that moment, but it demonstrated, in sharp relief, the love and gratitude this nation has for its health service.

It is a beloved institution, but more than that, the NHS, which is 75 years old today, is entangled deeply with our lives, something that people are fiercely passionate about - a miraculous gift from a nation making good on its post-war promise to improve the lives of those who had given so much.

Our children are born in it, our loved ones die in it. The health service is the background to the best and worst moments of our lives.

But what of today's NHS? Waiting lists wind on and on. No one who has visited an A&E and witnessed people on trolleys in corridors can ignore the warning signs. This enormous human experiment in a country's compassionate treatment of its citizens is ailing. There is little to be gained by pretending it isn't happening.

There are no easy answers to the problems facing the NHS and social care in Britain.