UK's iconic health service turns 70 amid worry
London: Church services, tea parties and even a medically themed symphony were on the agenda as Britain marked the 70th anniversary on Thursday of the National Health Service a battered but beloved institution facing an uncertain future.
Public buildings were floodlit in medical blue and prayers were said at Westminster Abbey to celebrate the state-funded service, launched on July 5, 1948, in a country determined to build a fairer society out of the ruins of war.
The NHS principle of free medical treatment, funded by taxation, retains wide support. But it has been challenged by rising life expectancy, increasing patient expectations and the vagaries of government funding.
"In poll after poll, if you ask British people what makes them most proud to be British, they say it is the NHS," said Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt a member of the Conservative government that opponents accuse of starving the health service of funds.
Since a Conservative-led government introduced public spending cuts in 2010 in the wake of the global financial crisis, NHS funding has grown by about 1 percent a year. But demand is growing by some 4 percent, as the British population grows both larger and older.
After a spike in ambulance delays and cancelled operations this winter, Prime Minister Theresa May last month announced the service would receive 20.5 billion pounds (USD 27 billion) in extra funding by 2023-24, a 3.4 percent annual rise in real terms.
The birthday was marked by an outpouring of affection and reflection, for a gigantic institution that employs more than 1 million people and helped shape the way Britain thinks about itself.
The BBC devoted hours of TV and radio programming to the anniversary, including a reality series in which celebrities went to work in hospitals. It broadcast a specially commissioned symphony that featured bleeps, pings and assorted other hospital sounds.
Tea parties were held across the country Thursday to raise funds for NHS-linked charities.
On a Welsh mountainside, artist Nathan Wyburn created a giant portrait of postwar health minister Aneurin Bevin, father of the NHS.
