The NHS is defended by health care workers and ordinary people in the UK because access to it does not depend on wealth but is still mainly free at the point of use.
It has many problems including chronic underfunding [healthcare is about 7percent of national spending in the UK whereas in Europe in countries like France it is more like 13%.
Another big problem is that New Labour has copied the Tories in pushing Private Finance Initiative [PFI ] deals in the NHS which are both grossly expensive in the long run and run contrary to the whole ethos of the NHS. Cleaning teams in the NHS are now mainly provided by private contractors who pay poor wages and impose shabby conditions of work on their demoralised and demotivated staff.No wonder the cleaning of wards has become one of the great medical scandals in our hopitals.
As a previous writer has said the National service is being localised and run by managers and business types who are undermining the NHS itself
But it is still a massive force for good in the UK and well worth defending as Karen Reissman and her mental health nursing colleagues have been doing in Manchester this year.
ALBERT