NHS (60th Anniversary)

A constituent, Mrs. Elizabeth Porter, celebrates her 100th birthday next year. She spoke to me recently about what happened 60 years ago when she travelled on a bus from where she still lives in Shiney Row, Durham to hear Nye Bevan speak about the creation of the health service. She said to me that it was the greatest decision ever taken by any Government in the last century, because it took away the fear that she had in the 1930s of having to make a decision on health on the basis of whether she had £2 to call a doctor, rather than whether she needed help. Does my right hon. Friend agree with Mrs. Porter's analysis?