In a debate in parliament in June, Fraser Kemp, MP for the North East constituency of Houghton & Washington East, spoke of one of his constituents who will be 100 next year and who said of the NHS that its creation was the best decision any government had ever taken in her lifetime. It took away the fear she had back in the 1930s of having to make health decisions on the basis of whether she had £2 to call the doctor rather than whether she needed help.
We in the Labour Party are all immensely proud that it was a Labour government who took that decision and created the National Health Service 60 years ago today in the face of opposition from the Conservatives.
Councillor Tom Hanson remembers...Labour councillor for Bamber Bridge West ward, Tom Hanson, also celebrates his birthday in the same week as the NHS. However, he was born in 1930 and so remembers what it was like before anyone had access to health care free at the point of need. Doctors had to be paid or poor people had to rely on the chemist for minor ailments and children died of diphtheria, consumption (Tuberculosis) and scarlet fever.
Tom helped his local Labour Party in the 1945 elections which saw Labour swept to power in an historic landslide. Surveys of the time (they had polls then too!) showed that the Labour Party was most trusted by the public to implement the proposals of the Beveridge Report which included the creation of a National Health Service.
A most civilised stepOn 5th July 1948 Aneurin 'Nye' Bevan as health Minister symbolically received the keys of Park Hospital (now Trafford General Hospital) to mark the birth of the NHS right here in the North West.
This famous picture of the occasion shows Sylvia Diggory (nee Beckingham) age 13, the first NHS patient. Later in life she recalled:
"Mr Bevan asked me if I understood the significance of the occasion and told me that it was a milestone in history - the most civilised step any country had ever taken, and a day I would remember for the rest of my life - and of course, he was right."
Tories' wrong medicine for NHSHealth Minister Alan Johnson recalls what the Conservatives' Patient's Charter promised for care:
"The 1995 version of the Charter gave a waiting time guarantee of 18 months. We now have a maximum waiting time of just 18 weeks, and many areas are way below that. The 1995 document states: 'In addition, you can expect treatment within one year for coronary artery bypass grafts and some associated procedures.' A year for a life-saving bypass? That's unthinkable now, with waits down to no more than a few weeks.
On its 50th anniversary commentators were talking of the demise of the NHS. It took a Labour government once again to rescue it from 18 years of Tory under-funding.
The Future of the NHSRead all about the Next Stage Review which sets out the future direction for the NHS and have your say on a new NHS Constitution.
The proposed NHS Constitution is about safeguarding its core principles and values for the next generation, while setting a clear direction for the future. Consultation ends 18th October 2008.
Read Manchester MP Tony Lloyd's moving tribute to the NHS in parliament on the 3rd July here.
Find your Neighbourhood Police team 
