The 75th Anniversary of the foundation of the National Health Service, which we celebrate tomorrow, is rightly a cause for thanksgiving, reflection and renewal.
Thanksgiving first for the way in which it has transformed our nation with the commitment to the delivery of health care for all, free at the point of use, funded though general taxation. The National Health Service has rightly become a hallmark of our national identity – featuring, as you might remember, in the opening of the London Olympic Games. We will, as a nation, be always grateful, whatever lessons we learn for the future, for the selfless care of so many given by the staff of the NHS in the pandemic – we were and we are rightly proud of the NHS and our thank you is deeply sincere.
Rightly then our thanks lead to reflection. Over 75 years there have been tremendous advances in our health care. With the benefits of research and the discovery of new medicines, many diseases that once would have been fatal can now be cured or if not cured can be kept under control. Generally, we live longer and healthier lives, yet perhaps with such raised expectations there comes a sense of even more.
As a Bishops Staff Team, we have been reflecting recently on what exactly ‘Life in all its fullness’ as Jesus promises means, recognising that it cannot simply be a life without difficulty or challenge but is much more about how we live well with the joys and sorrows, the delights and challenges of the whole of life. The presence of chaplains in the NHS from across the various faith traditions of our nation and world is a part of that recognition that health is about much more than simply physical healing, encompassing the psychological and the spiritual. With this in mind, we see we all have a part to play in our wellbeing – a responsibility we share with the medical and support staff of our health service.
Which leads to renewal. Our health service is under some of the greatest pressures it has ever faced and there is an understandable sense that we want it ‘fixed’ in all the ways we could name, and we want someone to do that. We rightly hold to account its leaders and our government but the agenda to which they work, and the resources that they have, are ours, reflecting the values and the culture of the society which we form and from which we elect and appoint our leaders.
This week, we rightly celebrate our NHS and the staff who give so much of themselves to make it what it is, and we say thank you for the vision of wholeness and healing which lies at its heart. As disciples of Jesus Christ, it is right also that we connect that vision with the vision of life that we find in Jesus and play our part in shaping the culture of our society that when hard decisions are made about resources and priorities, these may be for the common good and the values of the Kingdom to which Jesus calls us. It is our NHS, funded by the tax we pay and the responsibility for it is ours. Thank you we say, and we stand together, for the health service is indeed ours and to be shared.
Join with us at Gloucester Cathedral this summer as we celebrate 75 years of the NHS.
Special Evensong – Thursday 6 July, 5.30pm, to mark the anniversary and give grateful thanks and praise for our NHS
The hand that cared – Saturday 1 July to Friday 1 September. A poignant new sculpture will be on display in the Cloister of the Cathedral throughout the summer.
NHS 75 community art exhibition – Saturday 1 July to Friday 1 September in the Cloister of the Cathedral.
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