The NHS is one year older, yet none the wiser

The NHS is one year older, yet none the wiser. Having spiralled into perpetual crisis years ago, no one can pretend the gargantuan system is looking great for its age. Its fragile condition has all of us worried – not least because of the millions of lives that are forced to depend on our monopoly health service. The NHS’s woes are thought by some to be the result of some evil right-wing push towards privatisation – and by no means a reason to hold back oodles of praise for the healthcare system. If anything, the health service’s troubles have served as a call-to-arms to defend the status quo.

But despite the jabs and digs and efforts to politicise today’s landmark, most of the tweets on the #NHSBirthday feed are simply glowing, to the point that you could sub in ‘Mother Theresa’ for ‘NHS’ with ease. While every day seems to be a pro-NHS day for some, today the love is starkly on show. But these heaps of praise directly contrast what we know about the NHS.