Oxford Health’s Chief Executive Stuart Bell says:

‘As the NHS reaches its 70th birthday this week, I realise that I have worked for it for over half its life!

Looking back to when I started in 1982 I realise just how much has changed in the advancement of care, the development of new treatments, and in the extent to which people, rightly, expect to be involved in their own care.

Whatever the pressures and problems we face today, it’s always worth asking when in history you’d prefer to go back to for your healthcare, and I still come to the conclusion that I’d choose the present day.

It’s also worth asking where in the world you’d prefer to go for your healthcare, and, in the round, I remain profoundly grateful for being able to turn to the NHS. That’s true in general, but also very specifically, as I have direct experience of it saving my life in recent years.

It’s also why, still, after 36 years, it makes me feel very proud to be a part of the NHS, a system which regards health as a basic human right, and makes care available to all, irrespective of wealth or background, free at the point of need.

It is the mark of a civilised society, and I can think of nothing more worthwhile than to have spent my working life playing my part in it.”

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