Happy Birthday - or RIP?

My grandfather, Nat, had looked after us all our lives, always being willing to help whenever we needed him. So it came as a great shock when, as he reached his seventy-fifth birthday and I turned to him once more, he told me he could no longer help and that I would have to look elsewhere and pay for assistance instead.

"But why didn't you warn me that this was going to happen", I asked, "instead of springing it upon me when I need you most? "

"I thought you might have noticed", he replied, "I've been getting weaker and more frail for years and now I'm exhausted. You all take me for granted, your aunty Teresa and uncles David and Boris haven't fed me properly and now I have hardly anything left to give".

This is an experience we may all become increasingly familiar with in the months and years to come. The Newcastle Journal on 6 June 2023 revealed that “Central funding for the NHS in the North East and North Cumbria fell by £100 million over the last two years and a further £60 million is set for next year" and "NHS England have outlined a requirement for each ICB (our local Integrated Care Board covers the above region) to reduce their running costs by 30% by 2025/6".

This is likely to lead to more restrictions in services provided by surgeries and hospitals, further staff-shortages and even longer waiting-lists (examples of measures Professor Allyson Pollock Public Health Professor at Newcastle University has described as “conscious cruelty"), resulting in more patients turning in desperation to the ever-burgeoning private health sector.

As the NHS reaches 75 years of age in July we might remember that its founder Nye Bevan is reputed to have said in 1948: "the NHS will last as long as there are folk with faith to fight for it".

The Squirrel asks - could we celebrate its birthday by showing our faith and supporting campaign-groups such as Keep Our NHS Public North-East ( www.konpnortheast ) in the fight?               

Paul Thompson