Speech at the NHS reception

2 July 2008

Transcript of a speech delivered at an NHS reception held at Downing Street.

Read the full transcript

Prime Minister:

Can Sarah and I welcome you to No 10 Downing Street. There are many occasions that take place in Downing Street over the years, but there can be no happier occasion than tonight because it is our chance to thank all of you for the service you have given to the country. And I think that the staff of the National Health Service, the volunteers in the National Health Service, those people who run the National Health Service, we owe you such a tremendous debt of gratitude for everything that you have done.

And there is not a family in the country who doesn't owe much to the National Health Service and I often think that we don't thank people enough for what they do. And so for all of you who have come from different parts of the country to be with us this evening, some of you doctors, some of you nurses, some of you ancillary workers in the Health Service, some of you in the ambulance service, some of you porters, some of you who volunteer your time to back up all the staff in the National Health Service, some of you administering different parts of the National Health Service, some in mental health, some in geriatric care, some in paediatrics, from all over the country in so many different areas we want to thank you for what you do.

And when we do surveys of the National Health Service and ask people why they want to be part of the National Health Service, usually people say one thing: that they are part of the National Health Service because they want to make a difference, and all of you make a difference. And the fact that so many lives have been saved and so many people have seen their pain relieved is a tribute to the original vision of the National Health Service in 1948 and to so many people who throughout all these years have contributed everything to the National Health Service.

So it is a great pleasure to have you in Downing Street. I hope you will have a chance to look round. Go down to the Cabinet Room and you can sit round the Cabinet table and make better decisions than the Cabinet was making yesterday. If the wine is not good enough, I bought it from the Treasury, and you know the reputation of the Treasury.

Sarah was showing people round Downing Street a few months ago and there are so many rooms here and we had an American visitor and unfortunately she walked her into a broom cupboard by mistake, so I don't know what you are going to find as you go round.

Like every family in this country, our family owes so much to the National Health Service. Some of you I may have told, I was in hospital for a long time when I was 16, and 17 and 18 because I injured myself playing rugby, and I got an early insight into the National Health Service and the skills of surgeons and the care of nurses, and the support of all the staff in the Health Service really did save my eyesight. And every evening at 8.00 o'clock - my great insight into the National Health Service - a trolley came round the ward, I was 16, and they offered me beer, or Guinness, and I knew that the National Health Service was free but I didn't think we had free drinks for every patient. And it was the result of a charity that I believe is still providing help to people in this particular way for ophthalmic patients in Edinburgh.

So all of us have our own experiences of the National Health Service, but tonight I want to thank you, everybody who contributes to the great energy, the great dedication, the great commitment that people have for the National Health Service in the country. And I hope you will be able to go back to the hospitals and to the GP surgeries and to all the health centres that you are part of and say from us to them, all of us here, thank them too for everything that they contribute to the National Health Service so that on this 60th anniversary we can look back on years of service and dedication, we can thank people for the work they do, and we can also look forward to a better National Health Service in the future, with the investment that is necessary, the support for the staff, the GPs, the doctors and the nurses, the midwives who do so much, and for everyone who is contributing to the National Health Service in the future.

I am just the warm-up speaker this evening because I have got a very, very pleasant duty. Lesley said that she might be prepared to sing more, and let me thank Lesley and her husband, who is a doctor, for all the charity work that she does. We are really proud of everything that Lesley does and it is such a privilege to have her here this evening as someone who has believed in the National Health Service and given it huge support over the years. So I am the warm-up speaker for the great occasion this evening. Lesley has promised to sing again. Can we thank her for what she does, but also thank all of you for everything you contribute to the National Health Service. We are so proud of what you do. Thank you all very much.