Kate Womersley

How much does Britain still ‘love’ the NHS?

Three books examining the health service in its 75th year find it at its nadir today – with 500 people dying weekly due to delays in urgent and emergency care

Sylvia Beckingham, aged 13, is visited by Aneurin Bevan in Park Hospital, Davyhulme, Manchester, from where he formally launched the NHS. [Alamy] 
issue 02 September 2023
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  • Fighting For Life: The Twelve Battles that Made Our NHS, and the Struggle For Its Future

    Isabel Hardman

    Viking Penguin, pp. 384, £20

  • How Britain Loves the NHS: Practices of Care and Contestation

    Ellen Stewart

    Policy Press, pp. 170, £24

  • Critical: Why the NHS is Being Betrayed and How We Can Fight For It

    Julia Patterson

    HarperCollins, pp. 224, £16

‘Of course I support the NHS. Everybody supports the NHS, or says they do,’ poked the comedian Frankie Boyle in one of the many campaigns promoting the health service. To admit you don’t believe in this national institution is as taboo as not caring about Britishness, about goodness, about people.

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