On the 70th birthday of the NHS, a message from Lisa Ramsey, Service User Voice Policy Manager for the Maternity Transformation Programme at NHS England, who works closely with our national committee on supporting Maternity Voices Partnerships.
“It’s Thursday 5th July and today marks the 70th birthday of the NHS. We all see improvements that could be made to the NHS, but today is all about celebrating all that is great about the National Health Service. We are celebrating the mere fact it exists. Having an NHS means when your child has fallen and bumped their head you have 111 to call for advice, when you need help in an emergency you can head to A&E and when you have something you need to see a GP about you can. The NHS is all of ours to use as sparingly as we can.
How fortunate that #NHS70 is falling mid-way through a 5 year maternity transformation programme. Maternity care is being transformed across England to become kinder, safer and more personalised. That means looking after maternity staff well and ensuring they train together and work well together. It also means ensuring every woman has the opportunity to know and trust her midwife and see the same midwife throughout her maternity journey. It means families are prioritised, not just women or babies and everyone’s mental and emotional health are important as well as physical health. It means the experience of being pregnant, giving birth in the place you choose and feeding and caring for a new baby is as important as health.
So today, find someone to have a cuppa with and tweet yourselves to celebrate #NHS70!”
