I’m writing this on Wednesday 5th July 2023, the 75th anniversary itself, and want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone who has contributed to this extraordinary mega-project in universality over three quarters of a century.

Today is also my Dad’s 73rd birthday (and yesterday my mum’s!), and it’s  certainly the case that babies like them born under a new National Health Service have lived better and healthier lives than the generations of working people who preceded them.

I myself was the 22,548,135th baby born on the NHS. My youngest son Seth was the 50,615,238th. Fifty two million babies and counting have been delivered without any stressful invoicing of their tired parents. What an incredible institution.

The NHS remains rightly cherished by the overwhelming majority of Brits. It is there for us from cradle to grave, without discrimination, free at the point of use, so cost is never a barrier to accessing care, whatever your circumstances.

I want to pay tribute to the diligent NHS staff working at Tameside Hospital, in our GPs surgeries, our clinics, and in our communities. Their compassion has touched all of our lives.

I will never forget the midwives whose humour and humanity eased the arrivals of my 4 children into the world; the nurses who treated my Nana with the utmost respect through her Alzheimers; or my own GP’s matter of fact friendliness.

Every day NHS professionals make the difference with the rigour of their care, an encouraging turn of phrase, an extra 10 minutes beyond their shift because they wouldn’t leave a patient in need – thank you. The NHS isn’t perfect, but its staff are true and resilient public servants.

Of course, the creation of the NHS in 1948 was in no way inevitable. The Tories voted against it’s establishment 22 times, with the then Conservative health spokesperson saying “We are taking a step from which there will be no going back. I believe it would be a fatal step”. Labour Health Secretary Nye Bevan and Prime Minister Clement Attlee persevered.

It reminds me that all worthwhile change involves bold decisions, inevitable opposition, and being visionary in the way you apply your values to problems of the day.

The NHS is the best of Britain, but sadly, as many of you will have lived experienced of either as a patient or a professional, the current Conservative Government has left it on its knees. A Labour government will make the NHS fit for the future. If you value it, vote for it.