The NHS made me.. a fair rise after all this heartbreak will help protect it for future generations
» First baby leads calls » Covid-19 record mum for better staff pay deal says: I owe them my life CORONAVIRUS CRISIS: SALUTE TO NHS ON 72ND BIRTHDAY
THE first person born under the NHS has called for those who “put themselves in harm’s way” during the pandemic to be given a pay rise.
Aneira Thomas, who turned 72 yesterday, was named after Aneurin “Nye” Bevan, the Welsh Labour minister who founded the health service in 1948.
At one minute past midnight on Monday July 5, 1948, Aneira became the first baby born under a system which guaranteed free hospital treatment for all at the point of delivery.
She has always been a vocal supporter of the NHS and, on the service’s 72nd birthday, made sure she was outside her home near Swansea, South Wales, to join the clap in tribute to health workers at 5pm.
But Aneira insisted the Government needs to do more than just clap doctors and nurses – they also need the proper backing they deserve.
“The NHS has always been our jewel in the crown, even before the pandemic,” she said.
“The doctors and nurses have been doing what they have always done, looking after us to the best of their ability.
“They are just phenomenal, these people, disregarding their own health, and that is why we have lost so many nurses and carers. That is just heartbreaking. For a long time, however, they have been undervalued and underpaid.”
Aneira said she has seen for how “diligent” NHS workers are through her own daughter, Lindsey, 45, who is a paramedic.
She described how her own experience of being in hospitals has revealed how the “team effect” that runs through the service means patients and their families are always cared for.
She added: “We do take it for granted, so I hope that now, after all of this, the staff do get a pay rise. They put themselves in harm’s way for us. I want the NHS protected for future generations. Like so many, I feel very passionate about it.”
Also among those praising the health service was one of Britain’s longest Covid-19 patients. Donna Morgan, 53, has issued a heartfelt thank you to the workers that saved her life. Donna spent 74 days in intensive care battling Covid-19 and doctors feared she would not recover from it.
But thanks to the dedication of hospital staff she was reunited with her husband on June 18, after 92 days in hospital.
The mother of three, who also joined the clap for the NHS yesterday, said: “I am full of
admiration for all the NHS workers that took such great care of me and never gave up. I would like to say a massive thank you to them all.
“I owe them my life and they deserve all the recognition they get. To them it’s their job and to us it means everything.”
Donna’s husband Toby, 54, has so far raised £119,000 for staff at St Richard’s Hospital in
Chichester, West Sussex, where his wife was cared for.
The couple ran the Victoria Inn pub in nearby West Marden before Donna became ill.
Toby said: “The NHS staff are just incredible. Their dedication and attention to detail – you just know they really, really cared about Donna.
“It really shone through the day that Donna was discharged with the amount of them that were there on their day off.
“It was just incredible the way they looked after her. They managed to completely anticipate her needs – even when she couldn’t speak because she had a tracheotomy. It was extraordinary.”
Backing calls for better pay and conditions for healthcare staff, along with more recognition,
Toby said: “There should be a whole reappraisal of people’s worth – and healthcare workers should be paid a lot more.”
He added: “I also think they should scrap pretty much every award ceremony going and honour our NHS workers. “It does seem ridiculous that we recognise some actor or someone snogging someone on Love Island instead of recognising people who are doing their jobs and helping people.” The couple also backed the Mirror’s campaign to give healthcare workers who have been on the front line of the pandemic a medal. Toby said: “It would be great if it was something that could be worn with pride outside the hospital environment,
as recognition that they worked through a horrible pandemic and saved lives.”
Labour leader Keir Starmer also joined in the clap on his doorstep yesterday, with wife Victoria.
On the weekend he told of his mother, who was a nurse but also suffered a great deal of illness throughout her life.
He said: “When I remember the dedication and professionalism of the doctors and nurses who cared for her, I feel a deep sense of gratitude.
“It is what inspires me to fight for our health system, to ensure that kind of care will always be available to everyone.
“I know many others feel the same. The NHS means so much to so many. But in the last few months, it has become even more important.”