The 70th anniversary of the NHS has been an important opportunity both to celebrate its incredible achievements and to reflect on areas for improvement and on the issues it faces today and in the future.
One of the founding principles of the NHS was equality of access to healthcare, free at the point of use, according to what we need not our ability to pay.
Equal access to healthcare is not, of course, the same as equality in health or even equality of outcomes. The NHS alone cannot create equal health on its own. But it can ensure that everyone gets the help they need for their health, regardless of who they are, where they live and what they need.