Was Nye Bevan really the father of the NHS?

TO SUGGEST Aneurin Bevan wasn’t the architect of the NHS (Letters) is simplistic. Every great institution is born from the germ of an idea and we must give credit to Sir William Beveridge and Henry Willink for their part. But I doubt anyone other than Bevan could have made the NHS a reality during the party’s single term in power. The opposition he faced was immense, but so was his intellect, and that and his mastery in debate finally won over the opposition. Even during his short life he was acknowledged as a world statesman by leaders of such diverse nations as Russia, India and the United States.

E. MORGAN, Neath. oUR NhS is a product of Clause Four socialism and has a lot in common with other industries nationalised between 1945 and 1951. others have either been re-privatised or bankrupted and only two remnants from this period remain: health and education. health care in Britain evolved over centuries thanks to convents, the Church’s doctors and pioneers such as joseph Lister, alexander Fleming, Florence Nightingale and Lord Nuffield, and by 1945, Britain could take pride in it. What was still needed was making health care available to even the poorest, but other countries managed this without the need to take the whole kit and caboodle into public ownership. It was Nye Bevan’s dogmatic approach which led to nationalisation, and the system began to unwind in 1951 when Chancellor hugh Gaitskell admitted free prescriptions were unaffordable. Since then, many have questioned the logic of nationalisation but were slapped down. I have faith that one day we will have a health-care system which values patients, where hospitals make profits to invest in the best equipment and are free to specialise. When that day comes, we might look back not to credit Bevan, but to blame him for the wasted years, the early deaths, the misery and the money pit which has impoverished our nation for so many years.

G. HOLWILL, Exeter, Devon.